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AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT.
8vo, $3.00, net. Postage extra.
A CENTURY OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY:
Being a Brief Review of the Foreign Rela-
tions of the United States, 1776-1876. 8vo,
$3-So.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY,
Boston and New York.
AMEEICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY
IN THE ORIENT
BY
JOHN W. FOSTER
Author of "A Century of American Diplomacy "
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
<@bz Stitoetffte $re??, Camt>ri&0e
1903
COPYRIGHT, I903, BY JOHN W. FOSTER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published February, igoj
n
PREFACE
Although there is a vast amount of literature on
Asiatic subjects, there exists a recognized need of a work
covering the topics embraced in the present volume.
The great development of the industrial resources of
the country, the necessity of larger markets in Asia,
and the recently acquired territorial possessions in the
Pacific Ocean, have given new interest and importance
to the international relations of the United States with
the Far East. Under these conditions, it seemed desir-
able to have in consecutive order a brief history of
the diplomatic intercourse of this government with the
Orient, in order to form a correct estimate of the policy
which has controlled the American people in their con-
tact with the countries in that quarter of the globe.
The author has the more cheerfully undertaken the
task from a conviction that a narrative of that inter-
course would reflect great credit upon his country, and
in the hope that it might stimulate the patriotism of
its citizens, and lead them to a more ready support of
their government in the discharge of its difficult and
enlarged responsibilities.
The treatment in a single volume of a subject, em-
vi PREFACE
bracing several countries and covering more than a
century, has required brevity in statement and the
omission of many interesting facts. The author has
sought partially to remedy these defects by a liberal
citation of authorities, which will enable the reader
readily to continue his investigation.
The Turkish Empire has not been included in the
narrative, for the reason that its capital is situated in
Europe, and its relations are controlled in great mea-
sure by the European concert of powers. Persia has
likewise been omitted for the latter reason, and because
of the slight diplomatic and commercial intercourse of
the United States with that country.
Washington, January, 1903.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS
The commercial spirit of the United States
Obstructed by policy of exclusion in Asiatic countries
Freedom of early Japanese and Chinese commerce .
Early Portuguese intercourse ....
The Dutch intercourse
The British intercourse
Closing of Chinese ports as a result of this intercourse
Early European intercourse with Japan
Introduction of Christianity into Japan
Embassy of Japanese Christians to Rome
Persecution of Christians and expulsion of foreigners
Commerce with Dutch only at Nagasaki
Dutch relations with Japanese authorities
European embassies to Peking ....
First European treaty with China (Russia), 1689
Russian embassies to Peking
Lord Macartney's (British) embassy to Peking
Failure of Lord Amherst's (British) embassy
PAGE
1
2
3
4
4
5
6
7
9
9
10
11
19
22
25
CHAPTER II
America's first intercourse
Difficulties encountered by American commerce
Arrival of first American vessel in Chinese waters
Testimony to American enterprise
Course of China trade and armament of vessels .
viii CONTENTS
The fur trade mostly in American control 31
Samuel Shaw, at Canton, first consul in the East .... 32
His report on manner of early trade at Canton . . . .33
Amount and character of the American China trade ... 36
The profits of the trade 37
Action of first Congress of the United States respecting China
trade 38
American commerce troubled by British cruisers in war of 1812 . 39
The " Terranova " affair 40
Improvement in methods of trade at Canton 42
Embarrassments attending it . 43
First effort of United States to establish diplomatic relations with
the East . . . 45
Arrival of American envoy, Mr. Roberts, at Canton ... 47
Roberts's fruitless negotiations with Annam 48
Treaty with Siam, the first made with an Asiatic power . . 50
Treaty negotiated with the Sultan of Muscat 51
The death of Mr. Roberts 55
CHAPTER III
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES
The failure of exclusion
Lord Napier's arrival as British superintendent of trade
His troubles with the Chinese authorities ....
His failure and death
J. Q. Adams's opinion that China's action justified war .
The opium trade and efforts of China to prohibit it
Commissioner Lin and seizure of British opium ■
The '** Opium War " and its results . . .
The moral aspects of the war
Interest of United States in the contest
Commodore Kearney secures "favored nation" treatment
Caleb Cushing sent to negotiate treaty with China
His success in the treaty of 1844
The terms and effect of the treaty ....
The principle of exterritoriality inserted in it .
Sketch of Mr. Cushing's career
Legation established at Canton. — Cushing's successors .
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER IV
INDEPENDENT HAWAII
Geographical importance of the islands 98
Early American trade with Hawaii 99
Rendezvous for the fur traders 100
Importance of the American whaling industry .... 102
American monopoly of Hawaiian trade . . . . . 104
The advent of American missionaries 106
Their success and influence 109
Their service in aid of diplomacy 110
Early attempts of European governments to possess the islands . Ill
First official intercourse of the United States . . . . 113
Its treaty of 1826 114
Intercourse of American naval officers with the government . 115
French attempt to overthrow the government 119
Secretary Webster's declaration as to independence of the islands 122
British-French proposition of tripartite guarantee declined by the
United States 124
British attempt to annex the islands 124
Unsatisfactory state of treaty relations with foreign powers . . 127
Treaty of 1849 with the United States 128
Further troubles with the French 130
Independence finally established 132
CHAPTER V
THE OPENING OF JAPAN
Benefit of the exclusion policy 133
Opening of Japan a sequence to Chinese treaties . . . 134^
Mr. Seward's prophecy as to the Pacific .^135^
Early efforts of United States to establish intercourse . . 136
Mr. Roberts's unexecuted commission 140
Treaty with Borneo, 1850 142
Commodore Biddle's visit to Japan in 1846 143
Imprisonment of American sailors 144
Decision of American government to open the country . . . 146
x CONTENTS
Commodore Perry's appointment and sailing of expedition . . 147
Arrival in the Bay of Yedo 150
Preliminary negotiations and departure of squadron . . . 152
Effect of visit on the court and country 159
The return and final negotiations 160
The signing of the treaty and its terms . . . . . . 162
The value of the Perry mission 166
Its appreciation by Japan • • • 168
CHAPTER VI
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN
Japan's acceptance of the new relation .
Appointment of Harris as consul-general
His arrival and reception at Shimoda
He negotiates treaty of 1857
His visit to Yedo to present letter of President
His reception by the emperor
Negotiation of treaty of 1858 and its importance
Followed by treaties with European powers
Visit of first Japanese embassy to Washington
Retirement of Harris and value of his service
Effect of the treaties on the Shogun and Mikado
Anti-foreign disorders
The Shimonoseki affair
Recognition of treaties by the Mikado
Reorganization of government under the Mikado as supreme ruler
Revocation of decrees against Christianity
The new order of affairs and its effect abroad
170
172
173
175
176
177
180
183
184
185
187
188
192
197
198
200
201
CHAPTER VII
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA
The cause of China's conservatism
John W. Davis minister — his services
Minister Marshall and his troubles with Yeh .
His unsatisfactory intercourse with naval officers
The Taiping Rebellion
Minister McLane — his unsuccessful efforts at intercourse
CONTENTS
XI
Dr. Parker in charge of legation 219
Second British-Chinese war 223
United States naval attack on Canton forts 225
Other American complications during the war .... 227
Peaceful policy of United States 229
Minister Reed goes to Tientsin with British and French forces to
secure revision of treaties 235
American and other treaties signed ....... 238
Defeat of allies at the Peiho — American complication in . . 247
Minister Ward visits Peking — exchange of treaties . . . 249
Allied forces capture Peking 254
CHAPTER VIII
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION
Reorganization of government after capture of Peking . . . 256
Anson Burlingame minister, his services 257
Sen Ki-yu and eulogy on Washington 259
Burlingame appointed Chinese ambassador and visits America and
Europe 262
His treaty with the United States in 1868 265
The audience question 269
Chinese youths sent to America for their education . . . ^272^
Dr. Williams's services and retirement 273
The coolie trade 4^75 .
British and American legislation against it y^80
Chinese immigration to California and Burlingame treaty . ./ 282
Sentiment in favor of prohibition — reasons for and against . I 285
Radical legislation vetoed by President \ 294
Negotiation of treaty of 1880, limiting immigration . . . \29jj^>
Opium prohibition treaty ineffective 297
Legislation under the immigration treaty 299
Recent legislation, failure of extreme measures .... 304
CHAPTER IX
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS
Its early subjection to China and Japan 307
First intercourse with the West 308
xii CONTENTS
Massacre of Catholic missionaries and hostilities with France . 309
Destruction of American ship General Sherman .... 310
American naval and diplomatic expedition and its failure . . 312
Futile efforts of European governments for intercourse . . 318
The Japanese treaty 320
Efforts of the United States to open the country finally successful
in treaty of 1882 323
American minister received and embassy sent to United States . 326
China's unsuccessful objection to diplomatic relations . . 327
Toleration of Christianity 330
Causes of China- Japan war 332
Intervention of United States for peace 334
Good offices of United States to belligerents .... 335
Peace negotiations 339
Results of the Japanese triumph 342
CHAPTER X
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN
Thralldom of Japan under the treaties 344
Embassy to America and Europe for treaty revision . . . 345
Failure of embassy, and reforms inaugurated .... 348
Services of Americans in reorganizing the government . . 350
Progress and character of reform measures 351
Effort in 1878 to secure a revision of treaties . . . 352
Hardships suffered on account of the treaties .... 353
Friendly conduct of United States and opposition of European
powers 356
Failure of revision in 1878, and renewed efforts in 1886 . . . 357
Overthrow of ministries and conservative reaction . . . 358
The effect of the Chinese war on treaty revision .... 360
Great Britain accepts revision ; followed by other European gov-
ernments * • • 361
Abolition of exterritoriality and treaty tariffs .... 361
Fears of foreign residents not realized 363
Japan attains equality among nations 364
CONTENTS
xm
CHAPTER XI
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII
The development of the Pacific States, its influence on Hawaii . 365
Secretary Marcy's project of annexation 366
Reciprocity treaties of 1855 and 1867 fail of ratification . . 367
Line of Kamehamehas extinct, race dying out .... 369
Ratification of reciprocity treaty of 1876 and its effects . . . 370
Renewed in 1884, with cession of Pearl Harbor .... 372
Kalakaua's reign 375
Queen Liliuokalani and her attempt to overthrow constitution . 376
Dethroned, and provisional government negotiates treaty of annex-
ation to United States . . . 377
Cleveland withdraws treaty and sends commissioner to Hawaii to
investigate 378
He seeks to restore ex-queen, but fails 379
Republic of Hawaii, its four years' administration . . . 381
New treaty of annexation in 1897 . 381
Japanese protest against annexation 382
Annexation by joint resolution during Spanish war . . . 383
CHAPTER XII
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION
Early missionary and commercial relations
First official intercourse of United States with Samoa
Samoan envoy visits United States ; treaty of 1878
Interests of Germany, Great Britain, and United States
Malietoa, Tamasese, and Mataafa, rivals for fcingship
Quarrels between the consuls
The conference at Washington in 1887 .
Germany declares war against Malietoa
The conference at Berlin in 1889 ....
The Berlin Act establishing a joint protectorate .
Operations of protectorate unsatisfactory
The joint commission of 1899 .....
Partition of the group by the treaty of 1899 .
386
388
389
389
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
T]
xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER XIII
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS
The war with Spain and victory of Manila Bay .... 399
The prophetic words of Seward 401
Phases of the question as to the disposal of the Philippines . . 402
Cession of islands to the United States and reasons for demanding
it 405
" Boxers " in China and causes of movement 408
Chinese antipathy to foreigners 409
Christian missions 410
Commercial and political aggressions by the powers . . . 412
Emperor introduces reforms and is dethroned .... 417
Growth of Boxer uprising and siege of legations . . . 418
Relief expedition occupies Peking 420
Secretary Hay's note to powers, July 3, 1900 .... 423
Negotiations for peace commenced 424
Demands made upon China by powers 427
The negotiations as to the punishment of officials and indemnity . 428
Provisions of the treaty of peace 430
United States influence in negotiations, and its " open "door " policy 431
The future of the Chinese Empire 434
The powers predominant in the Pacific 436
APPENDIX.
A. Protocol between China and the Treaty Powers, September 7,
1901 441
B. The Emigration Treaty between China and the United States,
1894 . . 450
C. Treaty between the United States and Japan, 1894 . . . 453
D. Joint Resolution for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the
United States, 1898 . . - 463
E. The Samoan Treaty between the United States, Germany, and
Great Britain, 1899 466
F. Protocol between the United States and Spain, August 12, 1898.
— Treaty of Peace between the United States and Spain, 1898 468
Index 477
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE OEIENT
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE
ORIENT
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS
The people of the United States of America, as soon
as they had achieved their independence in 1783, man- 1
ifested a notable spirit of commercial and maritime '
adventure. Within two years after peace was secured
the flag of the new nation had been carried by Ameri-
can ships into all the waters of the globe. When they
reached the Pacific Ocean in quest of avenues of trade,
they found almost all the ports of the countries of Asia
closed against them. Within the brief lifetime of this
young nation a great transformation has been wrought
in that region of the globe, which is vitally affecting the
political and commercial relations of many nations. In]
this transformation the United States has borne a con-?
spicuous and an honorable part. A narrative of its par-
ticipation in the events which have brought about this
change in the affairs of the world will be the subject of
this volume.
For two hundred years before the beginning of the
nineteenth century and for a considerable time after
2 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
that date, the free access of foreigners to most of the
countries of Asia was prohibited, and commerce was
carried on under very burdensome and restricted con-
ditions. This state of affairs may be attributed mainly
to two causes : first, the gross ignorance of those coun-
tries respecting the rest of the world ; and, second, the
violent and aggressive conduct of the Europeans who
visited them soon after the maritime discoveries of the
fifteenth century. A review of these conditions will
enable us the better to understand the difficulties en-
countered by the Americans in their early relations with
the countries of the Orient, and the important part
taken by the government of the United States in bring-
ing them out of their seclusion and opening them up
to commercial and political intercourse with the outside
world.
An examination of the history of the Asiatic nations
shows that the restrictive policy was of comparatively
modern origin. The earliest records of Japan give ac-
counts of embassies and intercourse with Korea and
China dating from two thousand years ago to recent
times. Japanese mariners had sailed their ships to all
the regions of Asia, and from the time the first Euro-
peans came into the Pacific, throughout the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, Japanese vessels carried on
commerce with India, Siam, Malacca, the Philippines,
China, and Korea, and had even reached the coast of
America.
Chinese records contain reference to intercourse with
the people of the West as early as the Greek invasion
of Asia under Alexander ; and the classic writings, both
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 3
Chinese and Latin, show that there were some trade rela-/
tions with Rome in the time of the early emperors. Dur-
ing the period of the Byzantine empire quite an overland
traffic was maintained, and we find accounts of frequent
embassies to and from Arabia and India from the be-
ginning of the Christian era onward through the medi-
aeval period. But the most authentic and detailed
narratives are those of Arab travelers and merchants in j
and after the ninth century, showing an extensive trade j
by sea from the ports of Arabia and the Persian Gulf ; \
and even at that date Chinese junks were making voy- \
ages to India, Ceylon, and still farther west. As indi- K
eating the state of intercourse during the Mohammedan
ascendancy, it may be noted that in 1420 a Chinese
embassy was commissioned to go to all the nations of
the Western Ocean extending as far as Arabia Felix,
and the record is that it was well received by them.1
When European vessels began to visit China foreign
1 1 Cathay and the Way Thither, translated by Colonel Yule, London,
printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1866, preliminary essay, sections i.-v. ;
1 The Chinese, by Sir John F. Davis, New York, 1837, chap. i. ;
2 History of China, by Charles Gutzlaff, New York, 1834, chap. xx. ;
Arabs and Chinese, by Dr. E. Bretschneider, London, 1871; Ancient Ac-
count of India and China, by two Mohammedan travelers, by E. Renaudot
(translation), London, 1733. See review of same in 1 Chinese Reposi-
tory, Canton, 1833, p. 6.
The Chinese Repository, one of the most valuable publications extant
concerning Chinese matters, was founded in 1832 by Rev. E. C. Bridg-
man, the first American missionary sent to China, — a gentleman of de-
cided literary merit, who was enabled to render useful diplomatic service
to his own country and devoted his life to the elevation of the Chinese.
With him was associated in the publication of the Repository Dr. S.
Wells Williams, to whom frequent reference will be made in this volume.
The publication continued through twenty years.
4 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
trade was carried on from ports of the various provinces
south of the Yang-tse-Kiang. The first European
vessel reached Canton in 1516, and was of Portuguese
\ nationality. It was received in a friendly spirit, and
\ created a favorable impression on the authorities. It
was followed the next year by an armed fleet of eight
vessels, seeking trade and bearing an envoy to the
emperor of China. Delay and disappointment were ex-
perienced by the envoy, and the presence of such a fleet
soon created suspicion, which was followed by a colli-
sion with the Chinese navy. Other vessels followed the
visit of the fleet, and Portugal, then at the height of
its power, pushed its commerce with China along up
the coast, establishing entrepots at Amoy and Ningpo.
By their violent conduct they brought upon themselves
within a few years the hostility of the natives. At
Ningpo, in one assault alone, eight hundred Portuguese
were slaughtered and thirty-five ships burned. One of
the charges of lawlessness which brought about this act
of vengeance was that the Portuguese were accustomed
to send armed parties into the neighboring villages and
bring in the women who fell into their hands.1
. Holland early became a formidable power in the East.
In 1622 a Dutch squadron of seventeen vessels appeared
off the coast of China, and after being repulsed at Macao
by the Portuguese, with whom they were at war, they
seized the Pescadores Islands, lying between the main-
land and Formosa, established themselves there, and
1 2 History of China, Gutzlaff, p. 126 ; View of China, R. Morrison,
1817 ; 1 The Chinese, Davis, 28 ; 1 Chinese Repository, 398, 425 ; His-
torical Sketch of Portuguese Settlements in China, Boston, 1836.
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 5
began to erect fortifications. This led to hostilities with\
the Chinese, and they finally withdrew to Formosa, of \
which they took possession, with the design of making/
it a permanent Dutch colony ; but after a constant war-,
fare of twenty-eight years with the Chinese and the
natives, they were finally expelled.1
The British made their first visit to Canton in 1635.
Four vessels fitted out by the East India Company,
commanded by Captain Weddel, entered the river, and
were halted at the Bogue forts. A parley ensued, in
which they insisted on proceeding up to Canton, but
were asked to await the consent of the authorities. Dis-
regarding the port regulations and the warning cannon
shot of the Chinese, the whole British fleet, quoting the
narrative of the voyage, " did on a sudden display their
bloody ensigns, and . . . each ship began to play furi-
ously upon the forts with their broadsides." Within
two or three hours the forts were silenced, a force of
men landed, occupied and destroyed the forts, " put on
board all their ordnance, fired the council house, and
demolished what they could." The fleet then moved
up to Canton, and demanded the privilege to trade, the
vessels being filled with merchandise. The authorities
still hesitating, the fleet again began hostilities, "pil-
laged and burnt many vessels and villages, . . . spread-
ing destruction with fire and sword." An agreement
was finally reached whereby the British were allowed to
land and trade. Sir George Staunton, secretary of the
first British embassy to China, in recording this event t
says : " The unfortunate circumstances under which the I
1 1 The Chinese, Davis, 42 ; 2 History of China, Gutzlaff, chap. xxii.
6 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
English first got footing in China must have operated
to their disadvantage, and rendered their situation for
some time peculiarly unpleasant." 1 It was thirty years
thereafter before another British vessel visited Chinese
waters for purposes of trade.
The Spaniards occupied the Philippines in 1543, and
their cruel treatment of the Chinese who were estab-
lished there operated to the great prejudice of the for-
mer at Canton and other ports, and their trade with
the country never was of any considerable value. The
French, in the early European intercourse with the
East, never sought to establish trade with China ; but
the French missionaries entered the country more than
two centuries before the European vessels reached it.
They were not only successful in their missions, but
had attained much influence with the authorities of the
empire.2
In the sixteenth century the Chinese empire and its
dependencies extended from Korea to India. Its rulers
did not fail to note the aggressive spirit of the Portu-
guese, Dutch, and Spaniards, who had taken possession
by force of the Philippines, Java, and other islands, and
had acquired a foothold in India and the Malay Penin-
sula. The early intercourse in its own ports with these
nationalities and the English, so marked by violence
and bloodshed, led the Chinese authorities tq stringent
1 Embassy to the Emperor of China, by Sir George Staunton, London,
1797, p. 8 ; 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, chap, xxiii. ; 1 The Chinese, Davis,
chaps, ii. and iii.
2 For early Nestorian missions, see 1 Cathay, by Colonel Yule, pre-
liminary essay, sec. vi. ; for Roman Catholic missions, 2 Cathay, Yule,
529 ; 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 43.
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 7
measures in the seventeenth century, which resulted in
the closing of all ports except that of Canton, and even
at that port foreign intercourse was conducted under
very onerous conditions.1
From the beginning European commerce encountered
two serious obstructions. The emperor and the ruling
classes recognized no equality in other nations, and all
who held intercourse with them were regarded as sub-
jects of vassal nations, and their envoys as tribute-
bearers. This led to very humiliating demands upon
foreigners, and in part explains the early conflicts. The
Europeans, also, in their contact with the Chinese offi-
cials, found in existence a system of bribery and corrup-
tion which constituted a heavy tax upon trade, and was
the cause of much dissatisfaction.
The experience of the Japanese with the early Euro-
pean voyagers and merchants was somewhat different
from that of the Chinese, but it ended even more disas-
trously to the newly established relations. The Island
Empire was discovered by the Portuguese navigator
Pinto in 1542, and he was soon followed by merchant
vessels, which met with a welcome from the native
princes, and within a few years a profitable trade was
maintained. The Portuguese were followed by the
Spaniards, who were likewise freely admitted. The first
Dutch vessels came in 1600, reaching Japan in distress.
The captain returned to Holland to report on the new
found land of trade, but the pilot Adams, who was an
1 1 The Chinese, Davis, 28, 32 ; Narrative of Voyages, by A. Delano,
Boston, 1817, p. 531 ; China and the Chinese, by Rev. J. L. N. Nevius,
New York, 1869, p, 299 ; A History of China, by S. Wells Williams,
edited by F. W. Williams, New York, 1897, p. 55.
/
8 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Englishman, remained in the country, teaching the
natives the European art of shipbuilding and becoming
a great favorite at court. Other vessels arrived in 1609,
and from that date they began to divide the trade with
the Portuguese, who had heretofore enjoyed almost a
monopoly of it. The English established themselves in
1613, and within a few years had factories at Hirado,
Nagasaki, Osaka, Yedo, and various other ports.1
While in China there was a constant drain of silver
from Europe to maintain the balance of trade, in Japan
gold and silver were plentiful, as also copper, which was
then a scarce metal in Europe. During the seventeenth
century the Dutch exported from Japan 43,482,250
pounds sterling in gold and silver, principally gold, and
in that and the next century 206,253 tons of copper.
For nearly one hundred years Europeans enjoyed a free
and lucrative trade with the empire, but an influence
was at work in the country which was destined to create
an effectual barrier to trade and intercourse.
1 One of the most frequently cited works on the early intercourse of
Europeans with Japan is Dr. E. Kaempfer's History of Japan. He was
attached to the Dutch factory at Deshima. The following are accessible
translations and abstracts : History of Japan, by E. Kaempfer, translated
by J. J. Scheuchzer, London, 1727, 2 vols. ; abridged edition, London,
1853 ; J. A. Pinkerton's edition, London, 1811 ; abstract by R. G. Wat-
son, Transactions of Asiatic Society, Japan, vol. ii., Yokohama, 1874. As
to Kaempfer, Things Japanese, by Professor Chamberlain, London, 1891,
p. 242. Histoire du Japon, par le P. Fr. de Charlevoix, Paris, 1754, 6 vols.
Memorials of the Empire of Japon, by T. Rundall, London, Hakluyt
Society, 1850. 6 Chinese Repository, pp. 460, 553 ; 7 ib. p. 217. Diary of
Richard Cock, 1615-1622, by E. M. Thompson, London, 1883. Letters of
William Adams, 1611-1617, reprinted from Hakluyt Society, Yokohama,
1878. Extracts from Cock and Adams will be found in Rundall's Me-
morials above cited. As to Adams, Chamberlain's Things Japanese, 13.
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 9
With one of the earliest Portuguese ships came the
great missionary apostle of the Jesuits, Francis Xavier,
who landed at Kagoshima in 1549. He was kindly
received, and during his short sojourn his labors were
attended with wonderful success. Other laborers fol-
lowed, and the toleration was so complete that in a few
years the Christians numbered hundreds of thousands,
and within fifty years it was estimated that they had
increased to nearly two million adherents.1 Among
them were found princes, generals, and the flower of
the nobility. Both in regard to religion and commerce
it may be said that the government of Japan at that
period exhibited more liberality to the nations of Eu- j
rope than the latter exhibited to each other. Velasco,
the governor-general of the Philippines, in an account
of a visit which he made to the country in 1608, re-
lates an anecdote of the Shogun, who was urged by
the Buddhist priests to suppress the Christians. " How
many sects may there be in Japan ? " he asked. " Thir-
ty-five/' was the reply, referring to the many Buddhist
sects. "Well," he said, "we can easily bear with thirty-
six." 2
In 1582 three of the nobility, representing as many
of the Christian princes, attended by a suite befitting
their station, made a visit to Rome to pay their respects
to the head of the Catholic Church. They were received
with distinguished attention by the crowned heads and
people in their journey through Portugal, Spain, and
1 Memorials of Japon, Hakluyt Society, preface, v. ; The United States
and Japan, by I. Nittobe, Baltimore, 1891, p. 10.
2 Memorials of Japon, 184.
10 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the various states of Italy. They were welcomed with
all possible pomp and ceremony by the aged Pope, who
at the close of the audience pronounced the words of
Simeon : Nunc dimittis. Throughout Catholic Europe
their visit was accepted as the assurance that Japan
was soon to become a Christian nation. They reached
Nagasaki in 1590, after an absence of eight years.
They were received in audience by the Shogun and told
their marvelous story. It was anticipated that it would
have a favorable effect on the government, but events
were taking place which were to bring about other
results.1
For forty years the Catholic missionaries were freely
permitted to carry on their propaganda, and the native
Christians enjoyed the same treatment by the authori-
ties as the Buddhists. In 1587 the first indication of
trouble with the government arose, when the Shogun
dispatched commissioners to make investigations of
charges brought against the Christians. These com-
missioners reported that they were overzealous in press-
ing their faith on the people, that they had destroyed
national temples, insulted and ridiculed the Buddhist
priests and assaulted their monasteries, and that Chris-
tian traders were carrying away the natives into slavery.
Based upon this report, the Shogun issued an edict
expelling the priests, but exempting the traders so long
as they observed the laws of the empire. But the order
was not generally put into force, and the missionaries
were able to evade it.
1 Histoire du Japon, Charlevoix. An account of the embassy based
upon Charlevoix will be found in 8 Chinese Repository, 273.
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 11
The country was filled with friars of various orders ;
their conduct and habits were not always exemplary,
and they were not politic in making prominent their
devotion to the Pope. Their claim of a superior obedi- I
ence to a foreign potentate and the visit of the Japa-
nese embassy to Kome alarmed the imperial authorities,
and orders were issued for a strict enforcement of the
edict. This caused a rebellion of the native Christians,
which was with great difficulty suppressed. Incensed
at these events, the Shogun issued a second edict in
1637, expelling, not only the missionaries, but all for-
eigners, prohibiting their entrance into the country, and
forbidding the Japanese to go abroad. In the lan-
guage of the Dutch historian of the period, " Japan was
shut up." By 1639 not a single Portuguese or Spaniard }
— merchant or missionary — remained in the country,
and it was supposed that every native Christian had
recanted or been slaughtered. Only the Dutch, not of
the "evil sect," were permitted to remain, and they
were confined to the little island of Deshima in the
harbor of Nagasaki. Thenceforward for more than/
two centuries the liberal policy of foreign intercourses
was reversed, and only through this small Dutch factory!
did the Japanese government and people communicate!
with the outside world.1
Merchants of all nationalities for a century had found
1 1 History of Japan, Kaempfer, passim ; 3 Histoire du Japon,
Charlevoix ; Letters of William Adams. A full discussion of the
accounts of the persecution, by Kaempfer (Protestant) and Charlevoix
(Catholic), will be found in the preface to Memorials of Japan, already
cited. The Mikado's Empire, by W. E. Griffis, New York, 1876, pp.
248-259.
12 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
a free and open market, and the ports of Japan had
furnished a friendly harbor for all vessels. The mar-
ket had been not only free but very remunerative, as
one hundred per cent, profit was not an unusual return.1
The testimony of all writers of the period is that the
Japanese in their intercourse with foreigners were dis-
tinguished for high-bred courtesy, combined with refined
liberality and generous hospitality. On the other hand,
the merchants and mariners with whom they came in
contact were usually of bad manners and morals, over-
reaching, avaricious, and cruel; the missionaries were
often arrogant, ambitious, and without proper respect
for native customs ; and the naval and other officials of
foreign governments were haughty, actuated by a spirit
of aggression, and unmindful of the comity of nations.
The history of the time shows that the policy of exclu-
sion adopted by Japan in the seventeenth century was
not inherent in the constitution of the state or the char-
acter of the people, but that it was adopted in conse-
quence of the unfavorable character of the relations
with Europeans.
It will be of interest to note the conditions under
which the limited intercourse with the Dutch factory
was carried on. The island of Deshima, artificially
built in the harbor of Nagasaki, six hundred feet long
and two hundred and forty feet wide, was surrounded
by a high stone wall, which permitted only a distant view
to its inmates. It was connected with the mainland by
a stone bridge guarded by Japanese police and had only
one other outlet, the sea gate. Both of these gates were
1 Memorials of Japon, p. iv. ; Chamberlain's Things Japanese, 296.
EAELY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 13
closed and guarded by night. In this veritable prison
eleven Dutchmen were permitted to reside. They were
occasionally allowed to pass beyond its walls for exer-
cise, but only on written application to the governor of
the province twenty-four hours in advance, and then
always accompanied by a numerous police retinue.
Owing to the bitter hostility of the Dutch to the Cath-
olic missionaries and merchants, the Japanese supposed
that the Christians worshiped two Christs, and when it
was found that both sects acknowledged the same God,
the Dutch at Deshima were prohibited from observing
the Sabbath and were carefully to abstain from any
manifestation of their faith. The Japanese assistants
and servants employed by them were not permitted to
remain on the island overnight ; and before entering
on their duties they were obliged to sign, with their
blood, an oath to contract no friendship with the
Dutch, to afford them no information, and have no
communication with them except in their recognized
functions. No persons except these employees and
government officials were ever admitted to the island.1
Two Dutch vessels annually were permitted to come
to the factory, but under the strictest surveillance. The
cargoes when landed were delivered to Japanese author-
ities, who sold the imported merchandise, fixed the price
on the goods to be exported, and gave in their un-
checked accounts to the Dutch president of the fac-
tory. The trade thus carried on was comparatively
1 A similar establishment was allowed certain Chinese merchants in
another quarter of the harbor of Nagasaki. For account of Chinese trade,
9 Chinese Repository, 378.
14 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
insignificant. The total value of the two cargoes was
estimated not to exceed £70,000, and the profits must
have been small after the presents, tribute and fees
were deducted. When the ships were ready to sail on
their return voyage the president had to wait upon the
governor of the province in formal audience to obtain
permission, at which time he was required to sign a
document that they would neither bring in nor hold
any intercourse with the Portuguese and would advise
the authorities of any hostile designs against Japan
which came to their knowledge.
No direct intercourse was held with the government
of the Netherlands, except through the Dutch East
India Company at Batavia. On the arrival of each ship
presents had to be given to the governor of the pro-
vince ; and a visit and tribute paid to the Shogun at his
capital, Yedo, at first every year, but during the last
century the visit was made once in four years, though
the tribute continued to be sent annually. The Jap-
anese nobility and higher authorities affected a great
contempt for trade, and it was their practice to hold no
direct intercourse with the Dutch officials. Though
many of the factory presidents familiarized themselves
with the language, they never could address the higher
authorities directly. In his intercourse with the presi-
dent the governor spoke to his secretary, the secretary
repeated his words to the interpreter (a Japanese), and
the latter translated it to the president; and the presi-
dent's answer came back through the same current of
communication.
The visit of ceremony of the president of the factory
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 15
to the Shogun was made in great state. Two other
Dutchmen and a number of Japanese officials accom-
panied him, and the entire retinue consisted of about
two hundred persons. They visited on their journey
the local princes, with whom they exchanged presents.
On the arrival of the embassy at Yedo they were kept
in strict confinement, and permitted to go out only on
visits of ceremony. The audience of the Shogun was in
the following form. When the president entered the
hall of audience, they cried out " Holanda Capitan"
which was the signal for him to draw near and make
his obeisance. Accordingly, he crawled on his hands
and knees to a place indicated, between the presents he
had brought ranged on one side and the place where
the Shogun sat on the other ; and then, kneeling, he
bowed his forehead quite down to the ground, and so
crawled backwards like a crab, without uttering a sin-
gle word. The stillness of death prevailed during the
audience, which lasted scarcely sixty seconds. The
Dutch chronicler's comment is : " So mean and short
a thing is the audience we have of this mighty mon-
arch." ! Although cut off from the outside world, Jap-
anese commerce did not languish. Kaempfer, writing
in 1692, says that confined within the limits of their
empire the people enjoyed the blessings of peace and
contentment, and did not care for any commerce or
communication with foreign parts, because such was
the state of their country they could subsist without it.
1 1 History of Japan, Kaempfer. An account of the Dutch factory at
Deshima, taken from Kaempfer and other Dutch and German authorities,
will be found in 9 Chinese Repository, 291.
16 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
" How much," he remarks, " is carried on between the
several provinces and parts of the empire ! how busy
and industrious the merchants are everywhere ; how
full their ports of ships ; how many rich and mercantile
towns up and down the country ! There are such mul-
titudes of people along the coasts, and near the sea-
ports, such a noise of oars and sails, and numbers of
ships and boats ! " One of the presidents of the Dutch
factory, in giving an account of his visit to the Shogun,
states that there were as many as a thousand vessels in
the bay of Yedo.
The measures of exclusion adopted had the effect to
deter the European nations from further attempts at
intercourse, either commercial or political, with Japan,
but not so as to China. The trade of that vast empire
was greatly coveted, and the profits which were derived
from the limited commerce through Canton, even with
its burdensome conditions, only whetted the appetite of
the avaricious merchants for greater facilities. Dur-
ing the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries repeated
attempts were made by the governments of Portugal,
Holland, Great Britain, and Kussia, by imposing em-
bassies sent to Peking, to secure greater trade privileges.
The embassies of the first three governments were in-
variably attended with failure.1 Russia, however, oc-
cupied a different relation. She was not seeking for
maritime intercourse. Her vessels of war did not come
into Chinese waters to awaken alarm and commit out-
1 As to Portuguese embassies, 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 129, 137, 139 ;
as to Dutch embassies, 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 152, 159 ; as to early-
European embassies, China, by R. MontgomeryMartiniLondon, 1847, p.
257.
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 17
rages. Her commerce had to be established over a long
land route. Besides, Russia had become a coterminous
neighbor of China, and it was necessary to establish
some kind of political relations. By 1637 the Cossacks
had advanced across Siberia and stood on the shores of
the Pacific at the Sea of Okhotsk. The Amur River
had become a part of the boundary, and Mongolia and
Manchuria touched the Russian frontier. The aggres-
sive spirit of the Czar's representatives soon brought
them into conflict with the Chinese, resulting in a state
of war, in which the Russians were worsted and sought
for a peaceful adjustment. This brought about the
treaty of Nipchu or Neverchinsk, signed in 1689 ; and
as it was the first treaty negotiated by the emperor of
China upon terms of equality with a European power, it
calls for more than a passing notice.
The negotiations took place on the frontier, and in
the presence of the armies of both contestants. The
Chinese plenipotentiaries were accompanied by two Cath-
olic missionaries, who acted both as advisers and in-
terpreters, and exercised an important influence on the
result. The negotiations were quite prolonged, each
party indulging in very wordy discussions. The final
scene of the signature of the treaty was enacted in a
tent erected for the ceremony, midway between the
two armies. The treaty was read aloud, and each party \
signed and sealed the two copies that were to be de-
livered to the other, viz., by the Chinese, one in their
own language, and a second in Latin ; by the Russians,
one in their language, and a second in Latin ; but the
Latin copies only were sealed with the seals of both
18 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
nations. The contracting parties, as described by the
priest Gerbillon, then "rising altogether and holding
each the copies of the treaty of peace, swore in the
name of their masters to observe them faithfully, tak-
ing Almighty God, the sovereign Lord of all things, to
witness the sincerity of their intentions." The ex-
change of copies of the treaty followed, and the parties
embraced each other, trumpets, drums, fifes, and haut-
boys sounding all the while. On the next day presents
were exchanged and the plenipotentiaries separated,
bearing their respective copies of the treaties to their
sovereigns.
The treaty fixed the boundaries of the two coun-
tries, Russia agreed to withdraw from the Chinese ter-
ritory which it had occupied for some years, free trade
across the frontier was stipulated, and provision was
made for the extradition of criminals and fugitives.
The Chinese emperor then reigning was Kang-he, one
of the most celebrated of the Manchu dynasty. He
took great credit to himself for the treaty, saying of his
reign, "Since I ascended the throne I have directed
military operations to a great extent. I have crushed
rebels, I have taken possession of Formosa, I have
humbled the Russians." 1
The exchange of ratifications of this treaty did not
take place till four years after its signature, when Peter
the Great sent an envoy to Peking attended by a large
1 Description de l'Empire de la Chine, etc., par J. B. du Halde, 1735.
For text of treaty, Treaties, Conventions, etc., between China and
Foreign Courts, prepared by Inspector-General of Customs, Shanghai,
1887, p. 3 ; also Archives Diplomatiques, Paris, t. i. p. 270 ; 2 Hist.
China, Gutzlaff, 247 ; 8 Chinese Repository, 417.
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 19
retinue, and a year and a half were required for the
journey.1 The treaty of 1689 did not secure satisfac-
tory results, and in 1719 another ambassador, Ismailoff,
was sent to Peking to secure by treaty better trade facil-
ities. When his train reached the frontier a curious
incident occurred illustrative of an oriental peculiarity.
Some of the Russians had brought their wives with
them. " We have women enough at Peking," the
Chinese official said. Appeal was made to the emperor,
many weeks were lost, and at the end the women had
to be sent back. The same exclusion was observed at
Canton, where no European women were admitted even
to the foreign factories until just previous to the Brit-
ish war of 1840. A similar rule was enforced by
the Japanese at the Dutch factory at Deshima. It is
recorded that in the year 1817 a new president of the
factory arrived, bringing with him his young wife and
their new-born babe ; and that it threw the whole town
of Nagasaki — population, government, and all — into
consternation. It was made the subject of a court
council at Yedo, and the young wife was forced to re-
turn to Holland.2
On his arrival at Peking, Ismailoff was notified that
he could transact no business until after his audience
1 From Moscow Overland to China, by E. Y. Ides, Ambassador from
the Czar of Muscovy, translated into English, London, 1706 ; Journal
of Russian Embassy Overland to Peking, by Adam Brand, Secretary of
the Embassy, 1698 ; 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 248 ; 8 Chinese Repository,
520.
2 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 251 ; 9 Chinese Repository, 297 ; Narrative
of Voyages, A. Delano, Boston, 1817, p. 540 ; A Cycle of Cathay, by
W. A. P. Martin, New York, 1896, p. 20.
20 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
of the emperor, at which he must perform the obeisance
known as the Jcotou or kowtow. To this he strongly-
objected, as derogatory of the dignity of his sovereign,
and protracted discussions followed, but in the end he
was forced to yield. A detailed account of his recep-
tion is given by Father Eipa, a Catholic missionary,
who acted as interpreter. After describing the emperor
and the gorgeous display with which he was sur-
rounded, he says Count Ismailoff on entering the hall
immediately prostrated himself before the emperor,
holding up the Czar's letter with both hands. His
majesty " now thought proper to mortify him by mak-
ing him remain some time in this particular posture.
The proud Russian was indignant at this treatment,
and gave unequivocal signs of resentment by certain
motions of his mouth and by turning his head aside,
which, under the circumstances, was very unseemly."
The emperor, however, soon relieved him from his em-
barrassment, received the letter from him on his knees,
and held some conversation with him. The narrative
states that " after the presentation of the letter the
ambassador, attended by the master of ceremonies,
returned to his former place in the open vestibule ; and
behind him stood his principal attendants. When all
were marshaled, at particular signals given by the
master of ceremonies, they all went down on their
knees, and, after the lapse of a few minutes, bent their
heads thrice to the ground. After this all arose upon
their feet, then again kneeled down and prostrated
themselves three times. In this manner they kneeled
thrice, and performed nine prostrations."
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 21
After all this abasement the ambassador was refused
his treaty, but assurances were given that the caravan
trade should be allowed, and that his secretary might
remain at Peking as a permanent charge. But ob-
stacles continued to be thrown in the way of trade by
the Chinese authorities, and another embassy had soon
to be sent to Peking.1
In 1727 a new treaty was made between the two
empires, which reestablished the boundaries, fixed more
accurately the trade relations, and provided for a per-
manent ecclesiastical mission. Caravans were to be
dispatched every three years, and six priests and four
lay members were permitted to remain at Peking to
learn the language, thus furnishing interpreters and
secretaries for the Russian government. This treaty
continued in force for more than a century, and was
only displaced by the treaty of 1858. Under it a lim-
ited trade was maintained, the traffic being mainly
the exchange of furs for tea. But that was of an un-
satisfactory character, being subject to frequent im-
pediments on the part of the Chinese government.
The acquisitive spirit of Russia also caused trouble
on the border, and the Czar dispatched successive en-
voys to Peking to negotiate in respect to these matters,
but they were either turned back at the frontier for
refusal to make the prostrations, or failed to effect any-
thing at the capital. An attempt was made in 1806 to
open a trade at Canton by Captain Krusenstern of the
1 Travels of John Bell of Antermony, 1763 ; Father Ripa's Residence
at the Court of Peking (Extract in U. S. Foreign Relations, 1873, p. 163);
2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 250.
22 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Russian navy, but he was refused, the edict being that
the trade of that nation should be confined to the over-
land traffic.1
The commercial supremacy of Great Britain was
becoming more pronounced throughout the world dur-
ing the eighteenth century, and English merchants
under the East India Company were enjoying the
greater share of the Chinese trade allowed through
Canton, but it was conducted under the most embar-
rassing conditions. For this reason it was resolved
that a special effort should be made at Peking to secure
for British commerce freer facilities in the empire.
Lord Macartney, governor-general of India, a noble-
man of considerable diplomatic experience, was chosen
as the head of an embassy, which was notable for its
personnel and the display with which it was sought to
impress the Chinese government and people. It was
dispatched in a man-of-war, accompanied by two ships
laden with merchandise for barter. The embassy dis-
embarked at Tientsin, and ascended the Peiho in boats,
from which the Chinese displayed flags bearing the
words, " Ambassador bearing tribute from the country
of England." 2 As it passed overland from Tung-chau
to Peking it presented a most striking appearance. The
ambassador, his secretary, and other officers of his suite
were carried in palanquins, they were followed by sixty
carts conveying the escort of British soldiers and ser-
vants, with a much larger train for the private baggage,
1 For text of treaty of 1727, Treaties, Conventions, etc., of China,
Shanghai, 1887, p. 8 ; 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 257-264.
3 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 195 ; Staunton's Embassy, 306.
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 23
and four hundred coolies, employed to transport the
effects of the embassy and the presents to the emperor
and high officials.1
It was received with the highest marks of distinction
by the Chinese authorities ; but when Lord Macartney
met the emperor's representatives to ask for an audi-
ence, he was told that he would be required to make
the prostrations observed at all ceremonies attending the
audience of tribute-bearers. Much time was taken up
in the discussions on this point, but finally it was agreed
that the ambassador should be received by the emperor
kneeling only as he delivered the king's letter. The
emperor was at Jehol, an imperial hunting lodge some
distance north of the Great Wall, and thither the em-
bassy had to wend its way. When the audience was
over, Lord Macartney was told that the business of his
mission would be discussed with the emperor's ministers
on his return to Peking. But he had scarcely arrived at
the capital when he was ordered to depart and quit the
country. No opportunity was afforded him to dispatch
or even to discuss the business which had brought him
on this long and expensive journey, and the entire em-
bassy had been kept constantly under close surveillance
during its stay. The departure was effected almost with
precipitation. The author of one of the narratives of
the embassy writes : " We entered Peking like paupers ; t
we remained in it like prisoners ; and we quitted it like
vagrants." 2 The return journey was made overland to
Canton, attended by high mandarins and a display of
1 Narrative of British Embassy, Anderson, Philadelphia, 1795, p. 128.
2 lb. 237.
24 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Chinese etiquette all along the route. It is said that the
expenditures of the imperial government alone for the
entertainment of the embassy amounted to fSSOjOOO.1
One of the principal objects of the mission was to
obtain the privilege to trade at Ningpo, Chusan, Tientsin,
and other ports besides Canton. So far from granting
this permission, no conference respecting it was held ; but
the emperor, in his letter of reply to the one from the
king of England handed him by Lord Macartney, stated
that the trade must be confined to the port of Canton.
He adds : " You will not be able to complain that I had
not clearly forewarned you. Let us therefore live in
peace and friendship, and do not make light of my
words." Notwithstanding this rebuff, the king of Eng-
land sent return presents to the emperor in 1795, which
were received at Canton and transferred overland to
Peking, and it was recorded that tribute had been sent
by the king of England to the " Son of Heaven." It is
said that the English were henceforth registered among
the nations who had sent tribute-bearers, and that the
embassy was regarded by the Chinese as one of the
most splendid testimonials of respect that a tributary
nation had ever paid their court.2
The embarrassments to British trade at Canton did
not cease ; and the English government, not discour-
aged by the ill success of its last embassy, resolved to
dispatch a second one, in the hope of securing the
establishment of a permanent mission at Peking and the
1 Travels in China, by John Barrow, London, 1804.
2 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 194 ; 1 The Chinese, Davis, pp. 75-79 ; His-
tory of China, Williams, 102 ; Letter from the Emperor of China to
King George III., Nineteenth Century, July, 1896, p. 45.
EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 25
opening of other ports to trade. In 1815 a British
man-of-war with two consorts arrived off Tientsin, hav-
ing on board Lord Amherst, governor-general of India,
an able corps of assistants, and a numerous suite. They
were received in great state en route, and escorted to
Peking. On his arrival there Lord Amherst was in-
formed that he must perform the kotou. This he re-
fused to do, pleading the precedent of Lord Macartney's
visit, but to no purpose. The Chinese were obdurate,
and he returned to his man-of-war, and sailed away with-
out seeing the emperor or discussing his business with
the imperial ministers.1
This ended the efforts of Great Britain to establish
diplomatic relations with China until an accumulation
of causes brought the two nations into armed conflict,
and marked the first step in the forcible opening of the
great empire to intercourse with the outside world. It
was the aggressive spirit and the violent conduct of the
European nations which led the Chinese to close their
ports against foreign commerce, and, after two centuries
of seclusion, it was a like influence of aggression and
violence on the part of the same nations which was des-
tined to compel the Chinese to reverse their policy and
again to open their ports to the world. The first act
of the drama was played before the United States had
an existence. It will be our task to study the part
which the young republic has taken in the second act.
1 Journal of Embassy to China, by Henry Ellis, London, 1817 ; 2 Hist.
China, Gutzlaff, 207 ; 1 The Chinese, Davis, 95.
II
America's first intercourse
The two most important factors in bringing the
United States into contact with the countries of the
\ Orient have been commerce and Christian missions.
The influence of the latter will receive attention in a
subsequent chapter. The extension of American com-
merce into the Pacific Ocean was obstructed by the
policy of exclusion which had been in operation for two
centuries, and in the few ports where foreign intercourse
was tolerated it was conducted under very adverse condi-
tions. The cause of this state of affairs has been indi-
cated in the preceding chapter, so far as China and Japan
were concerned. Much the same conditions existed in
the other countries, brought about by similar causes.
Several of the European nations had taken possession
by force of various islands in that ocean, occupied by
many millions of people, and had effected permanent
lodgment on the continent in India and the Malay
Peninsula. From these places it was possible to estab-
lish a large trade with the enormous population of Asia ;
but at the date of the independence of the United
! States and for many years thereafter the European gov-
ernments sought to reserve the trade of their colonies
and dependencies to themselves. Hence it was a serious
undertaking for a new nation, with a novel form of
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 27
government and undeveloped resources, to enter into
competition for its share of the commerce of the islands
in and the countries bordering on the great ocean. But
the hardy American mariners, who had been trained in
the fisheries and the colonial trade, and had had their
courage tested in the Revolutionary War by a contest
with the greatest maritime power of the world, entered
upon this competition with a spirit of enterprise rarely
equaled.
In the first year after the treaty of peace and inde-
pendence with Great Britain was signed, on the 30th
of August, 1784, the American ship The Empress (
of China, of New York, commanded by Captain John
Green, with Samuel Shaw as supercargo, bore the flag
of the United States for the first time into the port of
Canton, China. The record of the voyage and the
reception of the vessel in China, as found in the pub-
lished narrative and the report made to the govern-
ment is full of interest. In a letter to the Secretary
of State, transmitted to the Continental Congress, the
supercargo communicates, " for the* information of the
fathers of the country," an account of "the respect
with which their flag has been treated in that distant
region, . . . and the attention of the Chinese attracted
toward a people of whom they have hitherto had but
very confused ideas ; and which seemed to place the
Americans in a more conspicuous point of view than
has commonly attended the introduction of other na-
tions into that ancient and extensive empire." !
1 Samuel Shaw's Journal, with Memoir by Josiah Quincy, 1847 ; Report to
Secretary Jay, 3 Diplomatic Correspondence of the U. S. 1783-1789, p. 761.
28 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Nothing eventful occurred on the outward voyage till
they met, in the Straits of Sunda, two French men-of-
war, also bound for Canton, whose commander greeted
them in the most affectionate manner, and under the
convoy of " our good allies " the vessel safely traversed
the unknown Chinese seas.1 On its arrival at Macao
and Canton the vessel was welcomed by salutes from
the ships of all nations in those ports and by visits from
the officers and the chiefs of all the European establish-
ments, and " treated by them in all respects as a free
and independent nation." The letter says: "The Chi-
nese were very indulgent toward us, though our being
the first American ship that had ever visited China, it
was some time before they could fully comprehend the
distinction between Englishmen and us. They styled
us the new people ; and when by the map we conveyed
to them an idea of the extent of our country, with its
present and increasing population, they were highly
pleased at the prospect of so considerable a market for
the productions of theirs." It concludes : " To every
lover of his country, as well as to those more immedi-
ately concerned in commerce, it must be a pleasing
reflection that a communication is thus happily opened
between us and the eastern extreme of the globe."
Other vessels followed this venture into Chinese waters,
and within a few years they were successfully sharing
1 The attentions of the French commodore were brought to the notice
of the Continental Congress by Secretary Jay, and Mr. Jefferson, the
minister in Paris, was instructed to convey the thanks of Congress to the
French government for the valuable services of its navy. 3 Diplomatic
Correspondence, 1783-1789, p. 767.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 29
in the traffic. Gutzlaff, the German historian, writing f
of this period, says, " the Americans ploughed the wide
ocean in every direction. The high principles they
cherish, the excellent constitution under which they live,
the industrious spirit which pervades the whole nation,
imparted vigor and perseverance to the American mer-
chant." 1 As evidence of their daring, he cites the ship
Alliance which sailed from Philadelphia in 1788. She
was not furnished with any charts on board, but made
her voyage to China solely with the assistance of a
general map of the world, and never let go an anchor
from the time she left Philadelphia till she reached
Canton. Captain Krusenstern, of the Russian navy,
who, under orders of Alexander I., made a voyage
around the world in 1803 and spent much time in the
North Pacific, speaks in high praise of the early Amer-
ican mariners and merchants. "The spirit of com-
merce," he says, "is perhaps nowhere greater than in \
America. Being skillful seamen, they man their ships
with a smaller crew, in which respect it appears almost
impossible to excel them. Their vessels are, besides, so
admirably constructed that they sail better than many
ships of war. . . . The Americans avail themselves
quickly of every advantage that is offered them in
trade." 2 As indicating the state of intercommunication
before the era of steam we note his statement of what
was regarded as a remarkable evidence of speed and
skill in navigation, that he met American captains in
1 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 266.
2 2 Voyage Round the World, under Capt. A. J. von Krusenstern,
translation, London, 1813, p. 332.
30 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Canton who had made the voyage from thence to the
United States and return in ten months.
At the time under consideration our vessels in the
China trade did not always pursue a direct course be-
tween the home port and Canton. Not infrequently
they took on cargo and cleared for the east coast of
Africa, the Persian Gulf, the British or Portuguese
stations in India, or the Dutch East Indies, where they
bartered American goods for articles of those countries
wanted in China, and reaching Canton, received in
exchange teas, silks, and porcelains. In such voyages
they were often exposed to danger from savage tribes
or the pirates who infested the Pacific seas. The ves-
sels engaged in this trade carried quite a formidable
armament of cannon and small arms. Delano, who was
one of the earliest voyagers to the Pacific, gives an
account of the construction of a ship in Boston in
1789, the Massachusetts, " built expressly for the Canton
trade." He says : " Our ship was pierced for thirty-six
guns, but our armament was twenty six-pounders and
musketry.' ' He describes the outfitting of other vessels
destined for Canton after a sealing voyage : " The Per-
severance mounted twelve six-pound cannon, and the
Pilgrim mounted six guns, from nine-pound carronades
to four-pound fortified cannon, having all parts of their
armament fitted in the best manner to correspond with
their number of guns." *
An enterprise which largely interested the early Amer-
1 47 North American Review, 414 ; Shaw's Reports, 3 Dip. Cor. 774,
777, 778 ; A Narrative of Voyages, etc., by A. Delano, Boston, 1817, pp.
21, 25, 33, 420 ; Harper's Magazine, October, 1898, p. 739.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 31
ican traders was the China fur trade. Before their
advent into these waters, the Chinese supply of furs,
which were greatly in demand in that country, came
through Europe. The Americans later almost entirely
monopolized the fur trade. Their practice was to clear
for the South Seas, where at that period the fur seals
greatly abounded, slaughter the animals, load their ves-
sels with the skins, take them to Canton and exchange
them for tea and other Chinese commodities, which were
carried to the United States and Europe. The other
source of supply of sealskins was in the North Pacific'
The Russians had for many years a monopoly of that \
supply, but not being permitted to trade at Canton they
were forced to carry the furs overland, via Siberia, to
Kiakhta, and thence to Chinese markets. Within a
few years after independence the American vessels were
largely engaged in the traffic in seal and otter skins
and other furs from the northwest coast of America to
Canton, and it proved most profitable. The statistics
of Canton show that in 1800 the American vessels
engaged in the fur trade, in addition to large importa-
tions of otter and other furs, brought 325,000 seal-
skins; in 1801 the import of sealskins was 427,000;
in 1802, 343,000 ; and it is stated that the tonnage
employed in procuring skins for these periods was nearly
one half of the whole tonnage in the China trade.1
On the return from Canton of the pioneer vessel, a
report of her voyage was made to John Jay, then secre-
1 A Statistical View, etc., of the United States, by Thomas Pitkin, New
York, 1817, p. 249, and Appendix vii. ; 3 Chinese Repository, 557 ;
Delano's Voyages, 306.
32 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
tary for foreign affairs of the Continental Congress, by
Major Samuel Shaw, supercargo of the Empress of
China, as already stated. Secretary Jay transmitted
this report to Congress, and on June 23, 1785, he
informed Major Shaw "that Congress feel a peculiar
satisfaction in the successful issue of this first effort of
the citizens of America to establish a direct trade with
China, which does so much to honor its undertakers and
conductors." Under date of January 20, 1786, Secre-
tary Jay called the attention of Congress to the fact
that American merchants were beginning to turn to the
China and India trade, and that in the course of that
year several vessels would probably be engaged in it,
and he submitted to the consideration of Congress the
propriety of appointing a consul and vice consul general
for Canton and other ports in Asia.
Proihpt and favorable action on this recommendation
was taken by Congress, in the election of Major Shaw
as consul at Canton on January 27, and on the 30th of
the same month Secretary Jay transmitted to him his
^commission. In his letter of transmittal he says,
" Although neither salary nor perquisites are annexed
to it, yet so distinguished a mark of the confidence and
esteem of the United States will naturally give you a
degree of weight and respectability which the highest
personal merit cannot very soon obtain for a stranger
in a foreign country." 1 The appointee was a man
worthy of the honor. He had served with the rank of
major of artillery on the staff of General Knox during
the Eevolutionary War, and was held in high esteem
3 Dip. Cor. 766, 769 j 3 Secret Journals of Congress, 605.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 33
by the general and his brother officers. After the war
he visited India and China, and on his return from that
voyage entered the War Department, under General
Knox, as a clerk, and was holding that position when
appointed consul at Canton. Captain Delano, who
knew him well both at home and in China, writes :
" He was a man of fine talents and considerable cultiva-
tion ; he placed so high a value upon the sentiments of
honor that some of his friends thought it was carried
to excess. He was candid, just, and generous, faithful
to his friendships, an agreeable companion, and manly
in all his intercourse." 1
Consul Shaw's first report, December 31, 1786, gives
an account of the manner of conducting the trade at
Canton. From it and from contemporaneous sources
the following facts are obtained. Vessels arriving in ,
Chinese waters to trade were required first to report at
Macao, a Portuguese establishment, located on a penin-
sula near the mouth of the river on which Canton is \
situated. The Portuguese in the middle of the six-
teenth century secured the privilege of occupying the
point of land, and built up a considerable settlement
there with the right to control their own local affairs,
under the supervision of a resident Chinese official.
They were, however, not permitted to exercise sover-
eignty over the territory, and were required to pay an-
nually a ground-rent to the Chinese government. For-
eign vessels, upon reporting to the native authorities
at Macao, were granted permits to ascend the river to
Whampoa, fourteen miles below Canton, where all of
1 Delano's Voyages, 21.
34 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
them were moored. At this point the supercargoes made
the necessary arrangements with the customs officials for
disposing of their cargoes, the first step being to pro-
cure &ftador, a person to become surety for the pay-
ment of the government duties and fees. This person
was a licensed Chinese merchant. It was also neces-
sary to secure a linguist, a Chinese, who acted as
ship's broker and interpreter in all transactions with
the custom-house, which was in the city where no for-
eigners were admitted, and he attended to the discharge
and transportation of the cargo to Canton.
The trade or bartering of the merchandise brought
by the ships was conducted by the co-hong, which con-
sisted of a body of from ten to thirteen Chinese, called
the hong merchants. These men ranked among the
most wealthy and respectable inhabitants of Canton ;
they paid largely for the privilege of entering the co-
hong, and when admitted became permanent members
of it ; they had extensive establishments and numerous
and convenient warehouses ; and the co-hong was made
the medium of all communication of the authorities of
Canton and the imperial government with the foreign
merchants and other foreigners. The cargoes were un-
loaded at Whampoa into Chinese boats and taken to
the landing outside the walls of Canton. Here the
merchandise was transferred to the hong merchants,
who agreed on the prices at which they would pur-
chase, and fixed those of their own goods in return.
Notwithstanding the great power and advantage con-
ferred upon the co-hong by this system, Consul Shaw
reports to the Secretary of State that they " are a set
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 35
of as respectable men as are commonly found in other \
ports of the world. They are intelligent, exact account-
ants, punctual to their engagements, and, though not
worse for being well looked after, value themselves
much upon maintaining a fair character. The concur-
rent testimony of all the Europeans justifies this re-
mark." Forty years later a well-known citizen of the
United States, a junior partner in an American house
at Canton in 1834, John M. Forbes, of Boston, spoke
in the highest terms of the strict honor of the Chinese
merchants, and said, "I never saw in any country such
a high average of fair dealing as there."
Among other requirements of the trade was the em-
ployment by every ship of a comprador, a person who \
furnished the provisions, supplies, and other necessities, j
which must all come through him, and at prices fixed |
by him, which was a source of much imposition. While
the hong merchants maintained a high reputation, the
small dealers were reported to be crafty and dishonest,
and the trade was greatly embarrassed by the prevail-
ing bribery and smuggling. The regular salary of the
hoppo, or collector of customs, was about $4000 per
annum, though his income was reported to be not less
than $100,000.
In the time of Consul Shaw and for many years
thereafter no foreigner was allowed to remain on Chi-
nese territory at or in the vicinity of Canton, but as
soon as the exchange of commodities was over and the \
vessels ready to sail on their return voyage, the foreign j
merchants, supercargoes, and agents had to go to Macao I
and remain there for the rest of the year or till another
„
36 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
vessel arrived. Consul Shaw says that " on the whole,
the situation of the Europeans is not enviable, . . . and
it must be allowed that they dearly earn their money." l
The American commerce with Canton, the only port
n China with which any trade was permitted, soon as-
sumed considerable proportions. The second year after
the first vessel reached Canton, 1786, five American
merchant ships arrived in port, and three years later,
1789, fifteen, which made the trade of the United States
second only to that of Great Britain. In 1800 twenty-
three American vessels visited Canton, and the value of
their export cargoes was $2,500,000; and in 1801
thirty-four vessels with exports valued at $3,700,000.
For the year 1805, the exports to the United States
from Canton amounted to $5,300,000, and the imports
to $5,100,000, and for the four years ending with 1807,
the exports averaged annually $4,200,000, and the im-
ports $4,100,000, and the average arrival of vessels
was thirty-six.2 The entire commerce of the United
States at that period was comparatively small, and the
trade with China constituted a very considerable part
of it, and was relatively much greater then than at the
present day; but the foregoing figures may give a
somewhat exaggerated idea of the aggregate trade.
No statistics are available in the Treasury Department
1 3 Dip. Cor. 781 ; 1 The Chinese, Davis, 34 ; 2 Chinese Repository,
301, 302 ; 1 Letters and Recollections of John M. Forbes, Boston, 1899,
p. 86 ; 2 Remarks on China and the Chinese Trade, by R. B. Forbes,
Boston, 1844. For account of Macao, An Historical Sketch of the Por-
tuguese Settlements in China, by A. L. Jungstedt, Boston, 1836.
2 Statistical View of U. S., Pitkin, 246 ; 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 270,
and tables of appendix ; 2 Chinese Repository, 300.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 37
of the commerce with China before 1821, and the fore-
going figures are taken from the returns of the Canton
custom-house. But we have seen that American ves-
sels were at that early period engaged in an indirect
trade, and in addition it is known that they were also
carrying on a considerable traffic from Canton with
Mexico, Peru, and Chili ; but if the large amount of
smuggled goods is estimated, which do not appear in
the returns, the relative proportions will not be mate-
rially changed. One reason for the enterprise and sue- J
cess of the American trade in the East may be found j
in its entire freedom from governmental restraint, while
that of the European countries was controlled by the
monopolies of the various East India companies.
It is difficult to arrive at any accurate estimate of the
profits of the Chinese trade, but a reading of the narra-
tives of early voyages and of other contemporaneous ac-
counts shows that it was usually large and that it was
highly prized. Consul Shaw states that the privilege
of private trade was allowed to English captains in the
East India Company's service, and that in a vessel of
eight hundred or one thousand tons this privilege was
worth from $25,000 to $35,000 per voyage. Captain
Krusenstern mentions in his voyages meeting in Can-
ton an American vessel of less than one hundred tons
which in a single voyage from the northwest coast of
America, with a cargo of furs, realized $60,000 on an
investment of $9000. Other voyages are given where
a capital of $40,000 yielded a return of $150,000; and
one of $50,000 gave a gross return of $284,000. The
merchants of the New England ports in the early part of
38 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the last century reaped a rich harvest from this traffic.
In Boston alone the foundation of large fortunes was
laid in the Canton trade. A list of the names of its
merchants having houses in that place will indicate
this, among whom are found the well-known names of
Perkins, Cabot, Sturgis, Forbes, Kussell, Cushing, and
Coolidge.1
The attention of the first Congress of the United
States assembled under the Constitution of 1787 was
called to the importance of affording encouragement
and protection to American commerce with China, and
the second act passed by that body imposed a discrimi-
nating duty on tea and other goods imported in vessels
other than those owned by American citizens. The in-
terest of our merchants in that trade is also shown by
petitions to Congress from New York, Philadelphia, and
other cities, "praying the protection and encourage-
ment of the general government, either by prohibiting
foreigners from interfering in the trade, or making a
greater distinction than now exists between the duties
imposed upon goods imported immediately from Asia
and those brought by the way of Europe."
Consul Shaw died in 1794, while en route to the
United States on a visit, and was buried at sea off the
Cape of Good Hope. He was succeeded by Samuel
Snow. The business which seemed most to occupy the
latter' s attention, judging from the consular records in
the Department of State, was obtaining the permission
1 3 Dip. Cor. 781 ; 25 N. A. Rev. 458, 464 ; Sturgis's Northwest Fur
Trade, Hunt's Mag. xiv. 536, 537 ; Hist. Northwest Coast, Bancroft,
373, 376 ; 1 Forbes' s Recollections, chaps. 3 and 4.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 39
of the Portuguese government for him to reside at
Macao. As stated, all foreigners were prohibited from \
remaining at Canton, none could reside at Macao with-
out the express permission of the Portuguese govern-
ment, and it was necessary that it should be secured for
the consul upon the application of the Secretary of State.
It does not appear that the permit was ever received, but
he continued his residence on sufferance.1
Edward Carrington was consular agent in 1804, and
for several years his chief occupation seems to have
been to put forth ineffectual efforts to obtain the
release of sailors taken from American ships in the
ports of Macao and Canton by British warships and
impressed into the naval service, a state of affairs, he
remarks, " so humiliating to every friend of his coun-
try." It appears that the far-away waters of China
were no more exempt than those of the Atlantic from
the high-handed violence and disregard of maritime
rights by Great Britain which brought on the war of
1812.2 And the effects of this war were likewise felt
on the coast of China. The American trade was nearly
suspended, only an average of six vessels arriving annu-
ally during the war. The consul reports the exchange
of prisoners in the port of Macao between an Ameri-
can " private armed vessel " and a British warship, and
at another time of the release by the commander of
the Doris, and the receipt given by the consul, of the
1 1 U. S. Statutes at Large, chap. 2, p. 25 ; Annals of Congress, 1791-3,
pp. 427, 431 ; Consular Archives, Department of State, 1802-3.
2 Consular Archives, 1804-6 ; H. Ex. Doc. 71, p. 4, 26th Cong. 2d Sess.;
Delano's Voyages, 530.
40 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
passengers and crew of a Boston vessel, "altho," he
writes the department, " I did not consider them prison-
ers of war, they having been taken under the Chinese
flag and in neutral waters."
This action of the Doris, in cruising off the port of
Canton and seizing American ships in Chinese waters,
gave great offense to the local authorities, who ordered
the man-of-war to leave, saying that if the English and
Americans " had any petty squabbles," they must settle
them between themselves and not bring them to China.
Upon a refusal of the Doris to depart, all trade with
the British merchants was temporarily suspended. The
American consul not only complained of the bad con-
duct of the commander of the Doris, but he reports
that it was " equaled by the pusillanimous conduct of
the governor of Macao," who allowed that port to be
made a base of operations for the British to prey upon
American commerce.1
After the war was over the commerce soon revived,
and nothing occurred to disturb it until the event in
1821 known as the "Terranova affair," which attracted
general attention on the part of foreigners. An Ital-
ian sailor of the crew of an American vessel anchored in
the river dropped or threw an earthen jar overboard, by
which a Chinese woman in a boat was killed. It was
contended that the deed was accidental. The authori-
ties demanded his surrender for trial. The captain of
the vessel stoutly refused to deliver him, but agreed to
his trial by the authorities on the ship, in order to insure
1 1 The Chinese, Davis, 93 ; Williams's Hist. China, 105 ; Consular Ar-
chives, 1812-15.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 41
a fair decision. The ship was invaded and surrounded
by Chinese forces, and there was no alternative but his
surrender. It was followed by the mockery of a trial,
he was executed, and his body was returned to the ship.
While the dispute was pending the American trade was
suspended. After the execution, the viceroy of Canton
issued an edict, saying that as the Americans had " be-
haved submissively, it is proper to open their trade
in order to manifest our compassion. The Celestial
Empire's kindness and favor to the weak is rich in an
infinite degree ; but the nation's dignity sternly com-
mands respect, and cannot, because people are foreigners,
extend clemency. . . . Now it is written in the law
when persons outside the pale of Chinese civilization
shall commit crimes they too shall be punished accord-
ing to law. I, therefore, ordered them to take the said
foreigner and, according to law, strangle him, to dis-
play luminously the laws of the Empire. In every sim-
ilar case foreigners ought to give up murderers, and
thus they will act becoming the tenderness and gra-
cious kindness with which the Celestial Empire treats f
them." The government of the United States was!
severely criticised for taking no action in the matter.1
After this event American affairs at Canton passed on
without occurrences of moment, the trade being main-
tained with satisfactory results. In the course of time
the Chinese relaxed somewhat the strictness of the reg-
ulations. In the narratives between 1830 and 1840
we find that foreign merchants had been permitted to
1 1 The Chinese, Davis, 105 ; Williams's Hist. China, 108 ; 2 Hist.
China, Gutzlaff, 267; H. Ex. Doc. 71, pp. 9-52, 26th Cong. 2d Sess.
42 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
establish themselves on the bank of the river just out-
side of the walls of Canton, and occupied substantial
and commodious establishments of brick or granite, and
the settlement was assuming a permanent foreign char-
acter, with churches, newspapers and other adjuncts.
In 1832, when the port was visited by Mr. Roberts, the
American envoy en route to negotiate treaties with Siam
and Muscat, he reports, besides the East India Company's
establishment, nine British mercantile houses, seven
American, one French, and one Dutch ; and one British
and one American hotel. The style of living was quite
luxurious, with an abundance of servants, but there was
said to be lacking one essential element to make domes-
tic enjoyment complete — the Chinese forbade the pre-
sence of foreign women. This prohibition, however, was
removed soon after that date. The Chinese plenipo-
tentiaries who negotiated the first treaty with Great
Britain gave the emperor the following reason for this
concession : " The barbarians are influenced by their
women, and governed by natural affection. The pre-
sence of females at the ports would therefore soften
their natures, and give us less anxiety as to outbreaks.
If they are settled at our ports with all that is dear to
them, and with storehouses full of goods, they will be
in our power and prove more manageable." 1
Notwithstanding the somewhat improved condition
of the trade just indicated, the Americans, in common
with all foreigners, labored under many embarrassments.
1 Embassy to Eastern Courts, by Edmund Roberts, New York, 1837,
p. 130 ; 5 Chinese Repository, 426 ; 1 China during the War, etc., by Sir
John F. Davis, London, 1852, p. 300 ; Delano's Voyages, 540.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 43
Bribery and smuggling were conducted with the con-
nivance of the authorities. No direct means were
afforded the foreigners to communicate directly with
the local or imperial authorities for redress of their
grievances, as all intercourse with them was conducted
through the hong merchants. The consuls were not
recognized in any way by the authorities, nor were
they even allowed to communicate with them. They
affected to despise trade as unworthy of their exalted
station. The consuls were looked upon as the mere
chiefs of the mercantile houses, and possessed no power
or jurisdiction over their citizens or subjects frequent-
ing the ports other than such as the latter chose to
concede to them. As late as 1839 the consul at
Canton, in writing to the Secretary of State, called
attention to some humiliating demands of the author-
ities sought to be required of him in the form of his
correspondence, and says : u These trifles seem to show
their determination never to permit a foreign nation to
presume on an equality with their own." The arbitrary
course frequently taken by the authorities of Canton
against foreign shipping and merchants is explained by
the fundamental maxims of Chinese intercourse with
foreigners, some of which are as follows : " The bar-
barians are like beasts, and not to be ruled on the same
principles as natives. Were any one to attempt con- \
trolling them by the great maxims of reason, it would
tend to nothing but confusion. The ancient kings
well understood this, and accordingly ruled barbarians
with misrule." The term " barbarian " was the usual
epithet applied to all foreigners, much in the same
44 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
spirit in which the term was used by the ancient Greeks
as including all who were outside of their civilization
and culture. For instance, in an official report of a
customs employee of Canton we find such expressions
as the following : " The barbarian Marks, [a merchant]
residing in the English devil factory; . . . the bar-
barian Just, residing in the French devil factory."
Twenty years later Lord Elgin, backed by a British
fleet and army, in a dispatch informing his govern-
ment that he had made the Chinese retract the word
"barbarian" in an imperial decree, candidly says: "I
confess that I very much doubt whether they have any
other term which conveys to the Chinese population the
I idea of a foreigner." !
We have seen that the British and other European
governments had made vain efforts, by imposing em-
bassies sent to Peking, to establish political intercourse
and secure greater facilities for trade. The govern-
ment of the United States occupied a more favorable
position with the Chinese authorities than those of
Europe because of the fact that its intercourse had
been marked by no violence or offensive disregard of
the imperial policy or regulations, and that it had man-
ifested no disposition to despoil the nations of the
Pacific of their territory. But the Chinese government
had shown such a deep-rooted prejudice against for-
eigners and so determined a policy of exclusion that it
seemed useless for the United States to attempt to open
1 Consular Archives, 1839 ; 1 The Chinese, Davis, 68 ; N. A. Review,
1860, p. 163. As to American consuls and their status, 5 Chinese Re-
pository, 219 ; 6 lb. 103.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 45
up political relations, notwithstanding the great neces-
sity felt by American merchants for better protection
and freer commerce. But the trade with the Pacific
countries had become so important and profitable, and
was in such an unprotected condition, that the govern-
ment found itself impelled to the adoption of measures
for the improvement of its commercial relations with
these countries.
The exposed condition of this commerce attracted
general attention because of the murder of the crew
and the plundering of the ship Friendship, of Salem,
Mass., in 1831, by the natives of Sumatra. The melan-
choly event was twice referred to by President Jackson
in messages to Congress, and was the immediate cause
of the dispatch of a special agent by the government, *
with two naval vessels, " for the purpose of examining,
in the Indian Ocean, the means of extending the com-
merce of the United States by commercial arrange-
ments with the Powers whose dominions border on
these seas."1 Edmund Roberts, of New Hampshire, a
large ship-owner, who had spent much time abroad
engaged in mercantile pursuits, and who had visited
the Eastern countries and become acquainted with the
condition of affairs in that distant region, had, through
Senator "Woodbury, of his State, previously urged upon
the government the propriety and timeliness of mea-
sures for the enlargement and better protection of
American commerce in the Pacific. The President was
stirred to action by the unfortunate disaster to the
1 2 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, by J. D. Richardson, Wash-
ington, 1896, pp. 551, 596 ; Treaties of the U. S., 1887, p. 1380.
46 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Friendship, and Mr. Koberts was selected and dis-
patched on his mission in the United States ship Pea-
cock, accompanied by a naval schooner, in 1832. Trade
had already been established with Siam and Muscat,
but was conducted under embarrassing conditions. As
early as the middle of the seventeenth century a liberal
monarch of Siam had entered into relations with the
English, Dutch, and French. Louis XIV. of France
had sent imposing embassies to Siam and negotiated
with the king treaties of amity and commerce ; * and
when the United States attained independence its ad-
venturous seamen profited by this established commer-
cial intercourse, but the trade was subject to pecuniary
extortions and vexatious impositions. It was deter-
mined that the first efforts towards treaty negotiations
should be with Muscat, Siam, and possibly Annam,
leaving China and Japan to a later and more propitious
time.
Clothed with full powers to negotiate treaties and
bearing autograph letters from the President of the
United States to the sovereigns of the countries named,
Mr. Roberts passed the Cape of Good Hope and sailed
first for Manila and Canton, and thence to the countries
to which he was accredited. Upon his return to the
United States he writes that the unprotected state of
the trade from the Cape to the eastern coast of Japan
was painfully impressed upon him. Not a single man-
of-war was seen waving the national flag over its exten-
sive commerce in that wide region ; the merchantmen
1 Relations de la France et du Royaume de Siam, Lanier, Versailles,
1883.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 47
were totally unprotected. He cites the fact that in a
single year one hundred and one American ships visited
the ports of Java, and he looked hopefully forward to
the time when the hardy sons of the ocean, while filling
the coffers of their country, might enjoy the protection
of their country's flag.
The treatment of the Peacock on the arrival of Mr.
Roberts at Canton illustrates the spirit of the authori-
ties at that single commercial port of China. As soon
as the imperial commissioner was informed of her
arrival off the port, he issued an edict, in which he
stated that " having ascertained that the said cruiser is
not a merchant-ship, nor a convoy, and that she has on
board an unusual number of seamen, cannon, and
weapons, she is not allowed, under any pretext, to
anchor, and create disturbances. Wherefore, Let her he
driven away. And let the hong merchants, on receiv-
ing this order, act in obedience thereto, and enjoin it
upon the said nation's tae-pan [captain] that he order
and compel the said ship to depart and return home.
He is not allowed to frame excuses, linger about, and
create disturbances, and so involve offenses, that would
be examined into and punished. Let the day fixed for
her departure be reported. Haste ! Haste ! A special
order." Mr. Roberts states that no notice was taken
of this edict, and the ship remained for six weeks after
it was issued. The inefficiency of the Chinese navy at
that time was such that, he says, the Peacock alone
could have destroyed the whole "imperial fleet," and
have passed up to Canton and back with a leading
wind, without receiving any material injury from the
48 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
forts, as their guns were firmly imbedded in stone and
mortar, and could only be fired in one direction.1
From Canton Mr. Roberts sailed to a port of Annam
or Cochin-China, in order to communicate with the seat
of government at Hue. He was met at the coast by
officials of the government, and frequent parleys and
correspondence ensued, which resulted in failure. Mr.
Roberts records the spirit of these as follows : " The
insulting formalities required as preliminaries to the
treaty by the ministers from the capital of Cochin-China
left me no alternative, save that of terminating a pro-
tracted correspondence, singularly marked from its
commencement to its termination by duplicity and pre-
varication in the official servants of the emperor." The
first obstacle encountered was in the effort to secure the
transmission of a copy of President Jackson's letter to
the emperor. The officials stated that " the President,
being elected and promoted by the people, and not pos-
sessing the actual title of king, it behooved him to write
in a manner properly decorous and respectful ; on which
account it was requisite for the translation to be exam-
ined in order to expunge improper words." They also
insisted upon seeing the original letter, which was sealed.
Mr. Roberts refused to comply with these demands, the
negotiation was broken off, and he sailed away.
During the conferences the officials raised some ques-
tion as to the right of Mr. Roberts to communicate
with the minister of state, because of his lower rank.
When they asked him what were his titles, he replied
that there was no order of nobility in the United States.
1 Roberts's Embassy, 431.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 49
They insisted, however, that a person who held such an
important position under his government as he must
have titles, and they were desirous to know them in
order to ascertain if they were equal in number to those
of the minister of state. Mr. Roberts concluded to
humor them. The principal deputy, having prepared
his Chinese pencil and a half sheet of paper, sat down
to write. Mr. Roberts remarked that it would require
a whole sheet, which surprised them, as their minister's
titles would not require a half sheet. He thus began :
Edmund Roberts, a special envoy from the United
States, and a citizen of Portsmouth, in the State of New
Hampshire. He then proceeded to add to his titles the
names of all the counties in the State. The scribe's
paper was full, but it had taken much time owing to the
difficulty of translating the names into Chinese, and
many counties yet remained. It was his purpose, when
the list of counties was exhausted, to proceed with the
names of the towns, mountains, rivers, and lakes of New
Hampshire. Fresh paper was obtained, but the official
said that the list already exceeded the titles of the
highest person in the empire. The scribe looked weary,
and, as the ship was rolling, he complained of a head-
ache. Further record of the titles was postponed till
the next day, and no more objection was made on the
score of the American envoy's rank.1
Mr. Roberts met with a more favorable reception in!
J3iam, where a fair degree of liberality towards foreign- 1
ers had prevailed for two centuries. Within twenty-/
two days all the formalities of reception, giving of I
1 Roberts's Embassy, chap. xiii.
50 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
presents, and exchange of visits required by the oriental
customs had been complied with, and a treaty of amity
\ and commerce signed. The treaty bears the date of
March 20, 1833, and is the first diplomatic instrument
ever executed by the United States with a ruling power
I of Asia. The preamble to the treaty states that " one
original is written in Siamese, the other in English ; but
as the Siamese are ignorant of English and the Ameri-
cans of Siamese, a Portuguese and a Chinese translation
are annexed, to serve as a testimony to the contents of
the treaty. It is signed on the one part with the name
of the Chan Phaya-Phra-klang, and sealed with the
seal of the lotus flower (of glass); on the other part
it is signed with the name of Edmund Koberts, and
sealed with a seal containing an eagle and stars." *
j By the terms of the treaty the obstacles to trade and
impositions upon it were in great measure removed, a
barbarous penalty as to debts was abolished, fixed cus-
toms and port charges were agreed upon, and the gen-
eral results of it were to place American commerce with
the country upon a more friendly footing. The pre-
sents for the king on signing the treaty consisted of
silks, elegant watches set in pearls, and silver filigree
baskets with gold rims and enameled with birds and
flowers, besides gifts to officials of the court. And be-
fore his departure Mr. Roberts was informed that upon
the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty the king
would expect the following additional presents : Five
pairs of stone statues of men and women, some of natu-
ral and some of larger size, clothed in various costumes
1 Treaties of United States, 992.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 61
of the United States ; ten pairs of vase lamps of the
largest size, of plain glass ; one pair of swords, with
gold hilt and scabbards, — the latter of gold, not gilt,
— shape of blade a little curved.1
On the way from Siam to Muscat, to whose sultan
Mr. Roberts bore a letter from the President, the Pea-
cock touched at one of the ports of the Malayan Penin-
sula. In exchange of civilities with the officials, the
captain of the man-of-war made a present of some to-
bacco to one of the Mohammedan princes, who expressed
his thanks in a letter, from which, as illustrative of
the style of correspondence of the place and period,
the following extract, in translation, is made : " By the
mercy of God : This friendly epistle is the dictate of a
heart very white, and a face very clean, written under
a sense of the greatest respect and most exalted love,
permanent and unchangeable as the courses of the sun
and moon ; that is from me — a gentleman — Tumbah
Tuah of Bencoolen, Rajah, &c. Now may God the
Holy and Almighty cause this to arrive before the face
of his glorious excellency, Colonel Geisinger, the head
man who commands in the American ship-of-war, which
is now at anchor off Rat Island. Furthermore, after
this, the object of this letter is to acknowledge the
present of American tobacco sent to me. Wherefore
I return praise to God and my expressions of gratitude
— thus much ! " 2
The sultan of Muscat at that day ruled over a large
extent oTlerritory trT the "Indian Ocean, extending from
1 Roberts's Embassy, 247, 314, 318.
2 Ibid. 429.
52 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the Persian Gulf in Arabia to and including Zanzibar
in Africa,, and his resources were more than adequate
to the wants of his government. His subjects were
very enterprising, and carried on a traffic in their own
vessels to the southern extremity of Africa, to India,
Ceylon, Java, and Manila. His navy was the most
formidable of any of the sovereigns of Asia, consisting
of about eighty vessels, carrying from four to seventy-
four guns. With these thriving people the American
mercantile marine carried on a considerable trade. Dur-
ing the eighteen months preceding Mr. Roberts's visit
thirty-two vessels of the United States had visited its
chief port, while the entire navigation of Europe was
confined to nine vessels for the same period. In order
to protect and develop this trade Mr. Roberts was in-
structed to effect a treaty of amity and commerce.
The sultan received the American envoy with every
mark of consideration and friendship. Mr. Roberts ob-
served a noted improvement in the court ceremonies over
those of the countries farther to the east under Chinese
influence. He says, " Here was to be seen no abasing,
crawling, and crouching, and c knocking head,' like a
parcel of slaves ; but all was manly, and every one stood
on his feet." The sultan was a humane and just ruler,
and entertained liberal views as to commerce. No ob-
stacles were interposed to a treaty, which was speedily
concluded, granting trade without any vexatious condi-
tions under a tariff of five per cent., with no port
charges of any kind. When the usual provision was
submitted by the envoy providing for the care of ship-
wrecked American seamen at the expense of their own
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 63
government, the sultan insisted that this article should
be amended so that he would protect, maintain, and
return them at his own expense, as, he said, the stipula-
tion was contrary to the usage of the Arabs and to the
rights of hospitality. Though the sultan's kingdom
has long since been broken up, the convention still
appears in the compilation of treaties of the United
States, and in its fifth article will be seen this insertion,
" for the sultan can never receive any remuneration
whatever for rendering succor to the distressed." *
To the letter of the President, the sultan replied in
most expressive terms, the opening paragraph of which
reads as follows : " In the name of God, amen. To the
most high and mighty Andrew Jackson, President of
the United States of America, whose name shines with
so much splendor throughout the world. I pray most
sincerely that on the receipt of this letter it may find
his Highness, the President of the United States, in
high health, and that his happiness may be constantly
on the increase. On a most fortunate day and* at a
happy hour, I had the honor to receive your Highness' s
letter, every word of which is clear and distinct as the
sun at noonday and every letter shone forth as bril-
liantly as the stars in the heavens: your Highness's letter
was received from your faithful and highly honorable
representative and ambassador, Edmund Roberts, who
made me supremely happy in explaining the object of
his mission, and I have complied in every respect with
the wishes of your honorable ambassador, in conclud-
ing a treaty of friendship and commerce between our
1 Treaties of the United States, 745.
64 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
respective countries, which shall be faithfully observed
by myself and my successors, as long as the world en-
dures." *
These treaties were submitted by the President to the
Senate, and ratified by that body, and Mr. Roberts was
sent out a second time in a man-of-war to exchange the
ratifications. The ceremony attending the discharge of
the duty in Siam was quite impressive. A procession was
formed of the officers of the two naval vessels of the
United States, which composed the expedition, headed
by the envoy, and preceded by the ship's band, and in
this pomp and display, the treaty was borne in a box
by two officers to the bank of the river. An eye-wit-
ness of the ceremony continues the narrative : " Mr.
Roberts took the treaty in his hand, and, after holding
it up above his head in token of respect, delivered it to
a Siamese officer. He also held it above his head, and
then, shaded by a royal white silk umbrella borne by a
slave, passed it into the boat, where it was received
upon a,n ornamented stand, and, after covering it with
a cone of gilt paper, it was placed beneath the canopy.
At this moment our band ceased, and that of the Siam-
ese began to play. The boat shoved off, and we turned
our steps homeward to the merry tune of Yankee
Doodle."2
From Siam the squadron went to Canton, where the
vessels received a warning from the Chinese authorities,
1 Roberts's Embassy, 360, 430.
2 3 Presidents' Messages, 53. A Voyage round the World, including
an Embassy to Muscat and Siam, by Dr. Ruschenberger, Philadelphia,
1838, p. 319.
AMERICA'S FIRST INTERCOURSE 55
similar to the one on the former visit, and to which no
attention was given. An oriental plague had broken
out in the vessels, and Mr. Roberts was one of its
victims, dying at Macao, June 12, 1836. He had ac-
quitted himself with great credit on his delicate and
difficult mission. He had at all times sustained the
honor and dignity of the country in his intercourse
with the governments of the East, which had been
accustomed only to abasement and servility on the part
of foreigners ; but he also secured their good-will by a
proper respect for established customs. He sacrificed
his life for his country as truly as the soldier who dies
upon the field of battle. His countrymen in recogni-
tion of his services have erected a monument over
his grave at Macao, and a memorial window adorns
St. John's Church, Portsmouth, N. H., the place of his
birth. He has the honor of being the pioneer in the
oriental diplomacy of the United States. His service
was the opening chapter in the political intercourse of
the nation with the peoples of Asia and the islands
of the Pacific, which was destined to exercise a potent
influence upon America and the world.
Ill
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES
It was not possible for the great empires of China
and Japan to maintain permanently their policy of
seclusion described in the preceding chapters. The
maritime commerce of the world was rapidly increasing.
The ships of Western nations were traversing all seas.
The application of steam to navigation was beginning
to bring the distant parts of the globe nearer together.
It was contrary to the spirit of the age that a vessel in
distress or requiring aid and supplies should be treated
as an intruder in the ports of any people. The ex-
change of commodities was coming to be regarded as
not only a legitimate transaction, but as one from which
no nation had a right to exclude its inhabitants.
The efforts of China to resist the progress of the
world in shipping and commerce were destined to an
early and humiliating failure. The traffic carried on
through Canton, notwithstanding its vexatious condi-
tions, was increasing ; and the Chinese people, realizing
its advantages, were showing a marked interest in its
growth. The unsatisfactory methods by which this
trade was conducted could not fail, however, sooner or
later, to bring about a conflict between the authorities
and the foreign merchants or their governments ; and it
was plain that a radical change could be accomplished
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES
57
only by force, as the Chinese authorities would not will-
ingly make the necessary reforms. All the indications
pointed to Great Britain as the power most likely to
undertake this needed task. Her commerce was greater
than that of any other, her growing possessions in India
gave her increasing interest in the China trade, and
her naval supremacy made her the natural champion of
the world's commerce.
An event occurred at Canton in 1834 which pointed
unmistakably to this result. The British East India
Company, which had maintained a monopoly of the
English trade with China up to that time, withdrew its
agents from Canton on April 22 of that year, and ceased
to exercise control. By virtue of an act of Parliament
William IV. nominated a commission to regulate the
trade " to and from the dominions of the emperor of
China, and for the purpose of protecting and promoting
such trade.' ' The commission consisted of Lord Napier;
as chief superintendent, and two associates, togetHe^
with a numerous corps of agents and clerks. The
reached Macao June 15, and ten days afterwards the
landed at Canton, without having made the usual appli-
cation from Macao to the Chinese customs authorities
for the privilege to come to Canton.
On June 25 a copy of the king's commission to Lord
Napier and his associates was published in the Canton
" Register," and on the same day Lord Napier addressed
a communication in the form of a letter to the governor
of the city, informing him of the arrival of the com-
mission, empowered to protect and promote British
trade, and that he was " invested with powers, political
58 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
and judicial/' and he asked for a personal interview at
which he would more fully explain the object and
duties of the commission. While this communication
was being translated, Lord Napier was called upon by
two of the hong merchants, in execution of an instruc-
tion from the governor that they should inform him of
the existing regulations as to intercourse, which must
be carried on through the hong merchants. Lord Na-
pier summarily dismissed them, with the statement that
he " would communicate immediately with the viceroy
in the manner befitting his Majesty's commission and
the honor of the British nation."
After the hong merchants took their departure, Lord
Napier's letter to the governor was sent to the city gate
of Canton by one of his staff, accompanied by several
British merchants. At the gate they encountered Chi-
nese officers, to whom they tendered the letter for de-
livery to the governor, but all of them refused to receive
it. A messenger was dispatched to the governor re-
porting the situation, and after several hours other offi-
cers appeared, but none of them would even touch the
letter, and the British official was forced to return with
it to Lord Napier.
The jceason given for the refusal to receive the letter
to the governor was that it did not have on the super-
scription the usual word employed in Chinese official
correspondence, to wit, "pin " (petition), which Dr.
Martin, a high authority ibT -such matters, says is "a
word which in Chinese expresses abject inferiority." *
The governor, in reporting the event to the emperor,
i A Cycle of Cathay, W. A. P. Martin, New York, 1896, p. 21.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 59
also calls attention to the fact that on the envelope
" there was absurdly written,., the characters Great
English, JSation" In the communications of the gov-
ernor to the nong merchants, the contents of which
were to be made known to Lord Napier, attention
was called to the fact that he had disregarded the
rules of the trade in not applying from Macao for a
permit to come to Canton ; that only a tae-pan (super-
cargo or agent) had been allowed to represent the for-
eign merchants, and that an eye (superintendent), an
official above the merchants in dignity, could not pre-
sume to exercise his functions without the consent of
the imperial government, and for which a respectful
pin must be sent. A recapitulation of the rules gov-
errimg the visit and stay of foreigners was given, and
the governor says : " To sum up the whole matter, the
nation has its laws. Even England has its laws. How
much more the Celestial Empire ! "How flaming brignT
arJT its great laws and ordinances. More terrible titan /
the awful thunderbolts ! Under this whole bright
heaven, none dares to disobey them. Under its shelter
are the four seas. Subject to its soothing care are ten
thousand kingdoms. The said barbarian MP 1"Lortl
Napier], having come over a sea of several myriads of
miles in extent to^Bgcamin^^ai^haff^ of \
affairs, must be a man ^boroughs-acquainted with the %
-^udnciplesof high dignity."
On the day after the rejection of the letter the hong
merchants called again on Lord Napier to induce him
to change the address, but he refused to superscribe
the word " petition." Other visits from them followed
60 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
on the next and subsequent days with edicts and com-
munications to the hong merchants from the governor,
but the British superintendent refused to change his
position. In these documents Lord Napier was re-
quested to return to Macao, there to petition to be
received as a superintendent, and to await the emperor's
decision. He was told that the laws of the Celestial
Empire did not permit ministers and those under au-
thority to have intercourse by letter with outside bar-
barians, especially in commercial affairs, and that any
communications to them must be made through the
hong merchants in the form of a petition, to which the
barbarian merchants had always yielded willing and
j obedient submission. " There has never been/' wrote
thej^ov^erno^^
ing aiattex.~»~»-^ of dig-
nity and decorum. The thing is most decidedly im-
possible?^
*^in the matter of commerce, the governor defined the
attitude of his government in very decided terms.
" The barbarians of this nation [Great Britain] coming
to or leaving Canton have beyond their trade not any
public business ; and the^jcojiuiLi^ of the
Celestial Empire never take cognizance of the trivial
affairs of trade. . . . The some hundreds of thousands
of commercial duties yearly coming from the said na-
tion, concern not the Celestial Empire to the extent of
a hair or a feather's down. The possession or absence
of them is utterly unworthy of one careful thought."
These declarations were followed by a notice that un-
less Lord Napier desisted from his efforts to hold direct
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 61
intercourse and withdrew to Macao, the trade with the
British merchants would be stopped.
The controversy continued through the months of
July and August with increasing irritation. The au-
thorities encouraged the exhibition of every possible
annoyance to the commission and the English residents ;
in communications of the hong merchants to Lord Na-
pier, at the instigation of the governor, he was ad-
dressed as " laboriously vile ; " and Chinese laborers
and servants were forced to leave British service. Lord
Napier's correspondence with his government shows
that these annoyances were leading him to lose his tem-
per. In referring to the governor Jie used such epi-
thets as " petty tyranj." and ^ prpfinmp^nnnH gQVQ^ "
Having been rebuffed in his efforts to establish inter-
course with the officials, and it becoming apparent that
his mission was to prove a failure, he published in the
Chinese language and caused to be circulated a docu-
ment, in which he reviewed the government's edicts,
closing as follows : " Governor Loo has the assurance
to state in the edict of the 2d instant that ' the King
(my master) has hitherto been reverently obedient.' I
must now request you to declare to them (the hong
merchants) that his Majesty, the King of England, is a
great and powerful monarch, that he rules over an ex-
tent of territory in the four quarters of the world more
comprehensive in space and infinitely more so in power
than the whole empire of China; that he commands
armies of bold and fierce soldiers, who have conquered
wherever they went ; and that he is possessed of great
ships, where no native of China has ever yet dared to
62 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
show his face. Let the governor then judge if such a
monarch will be ' reverently obedient ' to any one."
Finally, Lord Napier showing no disposition to retire
to Macao, an edict was issued stopping all trade with
the English. This brought on such a threatening state
of affairs that a British force was sent up from the
warships at the mouth of the river and lodged in the
British factory. The next day the British squadron
cleared for action, moved up the river, and as they
passed the Bogue forts they were fired upon and re-
turned the fire. Two days afterwards the firing was
renewed between the forts and vessels, but after much
parleying between the hong merchants and the British
residents a truce was arranged. The result of this was
that Lord Napier, out of regard for the merchants
whose trade was stopped, and, in view of the hopeless-
ness of bringing the governor to intercourse on terms
of equality, decided to withdraw to Macao and there
await instructions from his government. The warships
were to leave the river, and trade was to be reopened.
The commission took its departure for Macao, August
21, in two boats provided by the Chinese authorities,
the British vessels having already left ; but the indig-
nities did not cease. Lord Napier, who had fallen ill,
owing to the great strain upon his nervous system, was
twice detained en route by the Chinese, and subjected
to exposure which it is alleged greatly aggravated his
illness ; and he did not reach Macao until four days after
leaving Canton,, He died at the former place, Septem-
ber 11, 1834. His physician certified that his illness
was wholly attributable to the severe labor and anxiety
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 63
which devolved upon him, and that his death was has-
tened by the needless and vexatious detention and
exposure to which he was subjected by the Chinese
authorities. The governor reported to the emperor
that the barbarian eye had been sent away, and the
English ships had been driven out of the river.
On leaving Canton, Lord Napier, in a letter to the
British residents, expressed " a hope that the day will
yet arrive when I shall be placed in my proper position,
by an authority which nothing can withstand." At
the same time he wrote to Lord Palmerston, secretary
for foreign affairs, that the viceroy had committed an
outrage on the British crown which should be chastised,
and he implored his lordship to force the Chinese to
acknowledge his authority and the king's commission,
stating that such a course would result in opening the
ports. The American consul sent to the Department of
State a report of the affair in detail. He regarded war j
between Great Britain and China as imminent, and sug-
gested that it might be to the interest of the United
States to become a party to the contest, at least to the
extent of making demand, accompanied by the display
of a naval force, for terms in every respect as advan-
tageous as those England might obtain.1 John Quincy
Adams a few years later, in a public address, declared
that the conduct of the Chinese authorities justified
1 The official documents relating to Lord Napier's commission will be
found in the British Blue Book, or Parliamentary papers, of the period.
They are quite fully reproduced with all the details of the affair in
3 Chinese Repository, 143, 186, 235, 280, 324 ; 11 lb. 25, 65. See, also,
Williams's Hist. China, chap. iii. ; 47 N. A. Review, 403 ; Consul Shilla-
ber, September 25, 1834, Consular Archives.
I
64 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
war on the part of Great Britain. But the British
cabinet failed to approve the action of Lord Napier,
and stated that it was its purpose not to establish com-
mercial intercourse with China by force, but by concil-
iatory measures.
This occurrence strengthened the Chinese government
in its policy of exclusion and of maintaining the trade
regulations. It has been seen in the extracts from the
; edicts and its conduct towards Lord Napier that it re-
garded all foreign nations as subject to the emperor,
and that their officials could only approach and hold
/intercourse with his authorities as vassals. So strongly
was this policy imbedded in the imperial system that
it could only be eradicated by the rude argument of
force. War with Great Britain was for the time de-
ferred, but the treatment of his Majesty's commission
had its influence on the decision of the British govern-
ment a few years later to resort to hostilitie^^Mi^j^ to
be re^r^ttedJEorJihe sake of our Christian civilization,
that the conflict which came "In TEi07^nowir^a«^^ie
" Opium War," could not have had as just a provoca-
tion aS thaT^lrrowing out of this insult to the British
nation and the death of its representative.
Opium was introduced into China in the thirteenth
century by the Arabs, but its use was confined exclu-
l sively to medicinal purposes, as in most other countries,
and when the European ships began to visit the East it
had no importance as merchandise. As late as 1773,
when the Portuguese were supplanted in the supremacy
of the market by the English, the importation of the
drug had never exceeded 200 chests annually. As a
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 65
result of the victory of Clive at Plassy, the British
East India Company secured the exclusive privilege of
opium cultivation, and it soon became its most impor-
tant article of exportation. Three years after the East
India Company obtained this monopoly, its importation
to China had increased five fold, and in 1790 it had
mounted up to 4000 chests, or twenty fold.1
By that time it was fast coming into popular use for
self-indulgence as a narcotic, and its evil effects were
so apparent in the vicinity of Canton that the governor
of the province memorialized the emperor for its exclu-
sion. He stated that it was " a subject of deep regret f
that the vile dirt of foreign countries should be received j
in exchange for the commodities and money of the em- I
pire, . . . and that the practice of smoking opium I
, should spread among the people of the inner land, to /
the waste of their time and destruction of their pro- f
perty." In response to this memorial the emperor issued
an edict in 1796 prohibiting its importation, and thence-
forward the imperial authorities sought to suppress the
traffic. The governor of Canton, in making proclama-
tion to the foreign traders of this prohibition, told them
that the Celestial Empire did not presume to forbid the
people of the West to use opium and extend the habit
in their dominions; " but," he said,v**4h&t-epiumj3hould
flow into this country where vagabonds clandestinely
purchase and eat it, and continually become sunk in
the_ most stupid and besotted state, so as to cut down
the powers of nature and destroy life, is an injury to the
minds and manners of men of the greatest magnitude ;
1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Article, Opium.
66 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
and therefore opium is most rigorously prohibited by
law7~~ " ■
The profits on the sale of the article were so large
that, notwithstanding the interdiction, the importation
continued to grow. The supply came exclusively from
India and every chest bore upon it the stamp of the
East India Company, as its sale in India was a govern-
ment monopoly. The trade was encouraged by that
company, regardless of the fact that it had been made
unlawful by imperial edict, and British ships were
mainly used in its transportation, although those of
other nationalities were to a limited extent engaged in
it. Between 1820 and 1830 the importation to China
had risen to 17,000 chests, and the smuggling was con-
ducted along the coast from Tientsin to Hainan. Such
a large and extended trade could not be carried on
without the complicity or connivance of the local au-
thorities, and it was apparent that the customs officials
and even others higher in power were reaping private
gain from the smuggling.1
The ineffectual efforts of the government to suppress
the importation of opium led many intelligent Chinese
to advocate its legalization under strict regulations as
to its domestic sale, and memorials to that effect were
sent to the emperor ; but the court at Peking was so
thoroughly satisfied that the use was a national evil of
I alarming proportions that it refused to listen to sugges-
\ tions for a license system. While many mandarins at
the ports were compromised in the illicit traffic, there
is no doubt that the moral power of the empire sym-
1 6 Chinese Repository, 513 ; 7 lb. 162 ; 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 217.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 67
pathized with and supported the emperor in his sincere
and earnest efforts for its suppression.
More stringent orders were sent to Canton on the\
subject, and the arrests for violation of the prohibitory
law became more frequent. One that attracted much {
attention was that of a Mr. Innes, a British merchant,
and a Mr. Talbot, an American, in 1838, charged with |
complicity in the landing of opium at the factories. \
Both men were ordered to be expelled ; but the Ameri- \
can, upon investigation, was declared innocent. Owing I
to the hesitation of the British superintendent to exe-
cute the order of expulsion of Innes, a strong feeling
of resentment was stirred up in the Chinese population,
and the factories were threatened with mob violence.
To show that the authorities regarded the foreign mer-
chants as responsible for the opium traffic, they ordered
a Chinese who had been detected in receiving the drug
to be executed in the foreign quarter, and the officials
were in the act of carrying into effect the sentence of
strangulation of the culprit in front of the American
consulate when they were driven away by a sudden on-
slaught of the foreign merchants. A short time after-
wards another execution was successfully performed on
the factory premises, which so outraged the residents
that the consuls of all nations hauled down their flags,
and for a time the trade was entirely suspended.1
At this period it would seem that the unlawful im-
portation had become so open and notorious that the
opium, which had in previous years been smuggled into
1 For full report by U. S. Consul Snow, H. Ex. Doc. 119, p. 2, 26th
Cong. 1st Sess.
)
08 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the province from Lintin, at the mouth of the river, was
now being brought into the foreign factories, and its
introduction effected with the knowledge of the officials.
The American consul reported that the amount imported
in 1838 was about thirty-five thousand chests, of the
value of $17,000,000. The emperor, learning that his
! edicts were not being properly enforced, determined to
resort to more radical measures, and selecting one of
| his most trusted and energetic viceroys, Lin, he dis-
patched him to Canton as a special commissioner, bear-
\ing the great seal of the emperor, with full powers to
put a stop to the importation, sale, and use of the
vicious and hated drug.
It is said that the commissioner received his instruc-
tions in person from the emperor, who recounted to
him the evils that had long afflicted his children by
means of the " flowing poison," and, adverting to the
future, paused and wept ; then turning to the commis-
sioner, said, " How, alas ! can I die and go to the
shades of my imperial father and ancestors until these
\ ^Jii'ufyl cavils are removed ? " 1 ^WTCBin a~¥ew days after
his arrival Lin issued ISfectict, especially directed to the
foreign merchants, in which he said that the emperor's
wrath had " been fearfully aroused, nor will it rest till
the evil be utterly extirpated." He thereupon ordered
| that the further importation of opium cease, under
penalty of death, and that all of the unlawful article
their possession be delivered up to the authorities.
This order spread consternation among the mer-
chants, the greater part of whom were engaged in the
1 H. Ex. Doc. 119 (cited), p. 13; 7 Chinese Repository, 610.
\Pe
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 69
illicit business. After some days of delay and negotiation
through the hong merchants, fully determined to have
every chest of opium on the ships or in the factories
delivered up, Commissioner Lin caused the factory set-
tlement to be entirely surrounded. On the water side
were stationed a fleet of armed boats, and on the land
side a double row of soldiers, while all the streets were
walled up, leaving only one exit. The books and ac-
counts of the merchants were seized ; the Chinese clerks
and servants were taken from them ; no intercourse was
allowed with the outside world, — even the supply of
provisions was cut off ; and the foreigners were held in
their factories as strict prisoners. The British superin-
tendent protested and threatened, but to no purpose.
At last he delivered over to the Chinese authorities
every chest of opium in the settlement, amounting to
22,283 chests, of the estimated value of $8,000,000.
Of this number 1540 chests were held by the American
merchants, but the consul reported that they were all
British property, and as such surrendered to the British
superintendent.
After the delivery of the opium, trade was again A
opened ; but under the direction of the superintendent I
all the British residents left Canton. The American
consul sympathized with the British in this movement ;
but his countrymen did not see proper to follow that
course of action, and remained in Canton actively en-
gaged in business till the British blockade of the port
was established. The blockade and active hostilities J
did not begin till about a year after these events ; but
the British government at once began warlike prepara-
70 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
j tions to avenge what it alleged to be the insult to its
1 representative and the destruction of the property of its
\ subjects.
The British superintendent, upon delivering up the
opium, communicated to his home government his con-
viction that the Chinese authorities would cause the
confiscated property to be sold, and profit by the sale ;
but the entire quantity was wholly and completely de-
stroyed, and for the time being an end was put to the
hateful traffic. The commissioner had thoroughly exe-
cuted the orders of his sovereign, but in doing so he
had initiated a conflict with the Western powers which
was destined to vex the empire for many years to come,
and ultimately to transform its relations with the out-
de world.1
It is beyond the scope of this volume to enter upon
a detailed account of the " Opium War." No formal
declaration of war was made by the British government,
and no official explanation of its cause or purpose was
given to the public other than an order in council to
the Admiralty, stating that " satisfaction and reparation
for the late injurious proceedings of certain officers of
the emperor of China against certain of our officers
and subjects shall be demanded from the Chinese gov-
ernment." A blockade of Canton was established June
22, 1840, and hostilities began July 5. After some
indecisive operations along the coast, the fortifications
which defended Canton were destroyed, and that city
1 For American consul's report and official documents, H. Ex. Doc. 119
(cited), 13-85. For chronological order of events and citation of docu-
ments, 11 Chinese Repository, 345, 401.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 71
was ransomed from assault by the payment of $6,000,-
000. Amoy, Ningpo, and Shanghai successively fell
into British hands. Chinkiang was taken by assault,
sacked, and destroyed with horrible slaughter. Nanking
was invested, and when about to be attacked the Chinese
sued for peace.
All the boasted prowess of their generals had come
to naught. They had been overwhelmingly defeated
in every encounter with the British, and to save their
ancient capital from destruction the emperor's pleni-
potentiaries made haste to accept the terms dictated by
the victors. The treaty, signed August 29, 1842, pro-
vided for the opening of the ports of Canton, Amoy,
Fuchau (Foo-chow), Ningpo, and Shanghai to British
trade and residence ; the island of Hongkong was ceded ;
$21,000,000 was to be paid as a war indemnity, of
which $6,000,000 was for the opium destroyed, and
$3,000,000 for debts due British subjects ; a tariff of
import and export duties was to be agreed upon, and
official correspondence was to be conducted on terms of
equality.1
A singular feature of the treaty was that no attempt
was made in it to adjust the matter which had been the
immediate occasion of the war, — the importation of
opium. After the treaty was signed it appears that
there was some discussion of the subject between the
negotiators, initiated by the British plenipotentiary, who
1 For treaty, see Treaties, Conventions, etc., Chinese Customs Edition,
107; for documentary history of the war, Chinese Repository, vols. 8 to
12 ; China during the War, etc., Sir John F. Davis, London, 1852 ; Nar-
rative of Events in China, by Captain G. G. Loch, London, 1843 ; Wil-
liams's Hist. China, chap. iv.
72 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
referred to " the great cause which produced the dis-
turbances which led to the war, viz., the trade in opium."
The Chinese plenipotentiaries asked why the British
" would not act fairly towards them by prohibiting the
growth of the poppy in their dominions, and thus effec-
tually stop a traffic so pernicious to the human race."
The British answer was that this could not be done in
consistency with their constitutional laws ; that even if
they ceased to bring opium to China the Chinese would
■procure the drug from some other source ; and that it
rould be better to legitimatize the importation under
^proper regulations. But the Chinese replied that " their
imperial master would never listen to a word on that
subject." And after the war the illicit practice con-
tinued, to the physical and moral injury of the Chinese,
and to the great financial profit of the British.1
The moral aspects of the war were at the time and
have been since much discussed. The general judg-
ment may be stated to be in condemnation of the British
for the encouragement and maintenance of the trade, so
injurious to the Chinese people, and so strongly con-
demned by their authorities. They were not justified
in inaugurating hostilities because of the seizure and
destruction of the opium, — an article made contraband
by the laws of China and subject to confiscation. On
the other hand, a conflict was recognized as inevitable
and necessary to compel the Chinese government to treat
other nations and their officials upon terms of equality,
1 Narrative of Events, etc., by Captain Loch, 173 ; 1 China during the
War, etc., by Davis, 18. As to condition of trade after the war, 2 Mont-
gomery Martin's China, chap. vi.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 73
and to establish intercourse with the world in accordance
with modern methods. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, a close
student of Chinese affairs and a resident of the country
for half a century, says that nothing could be more
erroneous than to charge England with waging the war
for the sole purpose of compelling the Chinese to keep
an open market for the product of her Indian poppy-
fields ; but he adds, referring to the treatment of Lord
Napier in 1834 and to other similar events, " interest had
to combine with indignation before she could be aroused
to action." Dr. Nevius, an American missionary long
a resident of China, wrote : " Justifiable or not, it [the
Opium War] was made use of in God's providence to
inaugurate a new era in our relations with this vast
empire."
John Quincy Adams, in the address referred to be-
fore the Massachusetts Historical Society in November,
1841, took the ground that Great Britain was entirely
justified in the war. The prevailing sentiment in the
United States will be seen by the following extracts
from Mr. Adams's diary : " Nov. 20, 1841. They [the
Parliamentary papers] all confirm me in the view taken
in my lecture . . . which is so adverse to the prevail-
ing prejudices of the time and place that I expect to
bring down a storm upon my head worse than that
with which I am already afflicted." He records the
refusal "in a very delicate manner" of the North
American Review to publish the lecture, and adds,
December 3, 1841, " The excitement of public opinion
and feeling by the delivery of this lecture far exceeds
74 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
any expectation that I had formed ; although I did
expect that it would be considerable." 1
The British historian, Justin McCarthy, says : " Re-
duced to plain words, the principle for which we fought
in the China War was the right of Great Britain to
force a peculiar trade upon a foreign people in spite of
the protestations of the government and all such public
opinion as there was of the nation." He proceeds to
say that during the controversy, on some questions the
British government was in the right, and on them had
the issue been joined war might have been justified.
" But no considerations of this kind can now hide from
our eyes the fact that in the beginning and the very
origin of the quarrel we were distinctly in the wrong.
We asserted, or at least acted on the assertion of, a
claim so unreasonable and even monstrous that it never
could have been made upon any nation strong enough
to render its assertion a matter of serious responsi-
bility."2
The government of the United States was not un-
mindful of the interests of its citizens during the con-
test, and it kept a naval squadron continuously in
Chinese waters until some months after the conclu-
sion of peace. The commanding officer, Commodore
Kearny, exhibited both firmness and skill in his inter-
course with the authorities, and induced the governor
1 Martin's Cathay, 21 ; China and the Chinese, by John L. Nevius,
New York, 1869, p. 300; 11 Memoirs of J. Q. Adams, 30, 31. For
Adams's address, Boston Transcript, Nov. 24, 1841 ; 11 Chinese Reposi-
tory, 274.
2 1 A History of Our Own Times, by Justin McCarthy, London, 1879,
pp. 165, 166.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 75
of Canton to pay damages to the amount of several
hundred thousand dollars for injuries suffered by Amer-
icans during the war on account of mob violence and
illegal arrests. But he rendered a much more valu-
able service to his own and other nations, and for
which he has received scant credit. By the British
treaty it was provided that a tariff and new trade regu-
lations should be agreed upon. On learning of this
provision, Commodore Kearny addressed a communi-
cation to the governor of Canton, in which, referring
to the expected arrival at that place of the imperial
commissioners to arrange commercial affairs with the
British, he asked that citizens of the United States in
their trade should " be placed upon the same footing
as the merchants of the nation most favored." In
previous correspondence the governor had borne testi-
mony to the fact that the American merchants at Can-
ton had confined themselves " to legitimate and honor-
able trade," and in his reply to the commodore he said
of them, " that they have been respectfully observant
of the laws is what the august emperor has clearly
recognized, and I, the governor, also well know. . . .
Decidedly it shall not be permitted that the American
merchants shall come to have merely a dry stick " —
that is, their interests shall be attended to. And he
assured the commodore that the emperor would be
memorialized, in order that the imperial commissioners
might be instructed on the subject.
Having received these assurances from the governor,
Kearny prepared to take his departure, whereupon the
American consul protested that he should not leave
76 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
until the commissioners arrived, as the presence of a
large man-of-war in the vicinity would have a beneficial
effect upon the deliberations. He urged that " the
magnitude of our trade . . . of far greater extent than
the whole South American trade/' called for special
attention at that critical time. The commodore was
induced to remain for seven months longer, and had
the great satisfaction of receiving the assurance from
the commissioners that American citizens should par-
ticipate equally with the British in the new tariff and
trade regulations. Of this matter a member of the
British commission wrote : " The Chinese government
promised, on the representation of the American com-
modore, Kearny, previous to the treaty of Nanking,
that whatever concessions were made to the English
should also be granted to the United States. The
throwing open the ports of China to Europe and
America was not, therefore, the result of our policy,
but had its origin in the anxious forethought of the
Americans, lest we might stipulate for some exclusive
privileges." It is pleasing to have the testimony of so
high an authority to the efficient and useful service of
an American officer.
In accordance with the British treaty, the new tariff,
averaging the low rate of about five per centum, and
the trade regulations, were put into operation by a
notable proclamation of the imperial commissioner.
| " The tariff of duties," he announced, " will take effect
with reference to the commerce with China of all coun-
tries, as well as of England. Henceforth the weapons
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 77
of war shall forever be laid aside, and joy and profit
shall be the perpetual lot of all." 1
It is due to the Chinese government to say that this
grant of trade to all nations upon equal terms was an
inspiration of its own sense of justice, as neither the
emperor nor his commissioner had any knowledge of
the rule of international law, — " the most favored
nation," — at that day even imperfectly observed by
the Christian governments. With this proclamation
the monopoly of the co-hong and the old system ceased
to exist, and modern commercial methods began to be
practiced in the great empire.
It was not difficult to see that the results of the
Anglo-Chinese war must result in benefit to the com-
merce of the world, and the government of the United
States was not slow to take advantage of it at the
proper time. The consul at Canton had at the outset
of hostilities suggested that a favorable time to open
negotiations for a commercial treaty was near at hand.
The merchants of Boston interested in China about the
same time transmitted a memorial to Congress asking
that a strong naval force be sent to watch the progress
of the war and protect American commerce, but they
urged that no envoy be sent to China to negotiate
until the war was concluded and its results made
known. Dr. Peter Parker, who had spent some years
in China as a medical missionary, was in Washington,
and in April, 1841, he urged Secretary Webster to send
1 S. Ex. Doc. 139, 29th Cong. 1st Sess. For Mr. Cushing's views,
S. Ex. Doc. 67, p. 101, 28th Cong. 2d Sess. ; 1 Montgomery Martin's
China, 414 ; 12 Chinese Repository, 443.
78 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
a minister to that country, and consulted John Quincy
Adams as to his willingness to go, telling him that Mr.
Cushing and other members of the Committee on For-
eign Affairs had suggested his name. Mr. Adams
replied that if his name was to be considered he could
not support the motion in the House for an appropria-
tion, and that he regarded action at that time as pre-
mature.1
On the assembling of Congress after receipt of the
news of the treaty of peace with Great Britain, the
President, December 30, 1842, sent a special message
to that body, giving information as to the terms of the
treaty, and recommending that an appropriation be
made to enable the executive to dispatch a special
mission to that country to negotiate a treaty of com-
merce. The message, which was written by Daniel
Webster, then Secretary of State, is an able statement
of the importance of such a mission and of the relation
of the United States to the Orient. While the subject
was pending in Congress the selection of a proper per-
son to send at the head of the mission was much con-
sidered. The President in his message had said that
in view of the importance of the object, "a citizen of
much intelligence and weight of character should be
employed," and to secure the services of such an indi-
vidual a compensation should be made corresponding
with the magnitude and importance of the mission.
Congress soon made the necessary appropriation, and
Mr. Webster, who was uncomfortable in the cabinet of
1 H. Doc. 170,26th Cong. 1st Sess. ; 10 Memoirs of J. Q. Adams, 188 ;
10 lb. 444.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 79
President Tyler, and was seeking a creditable means of
escape from his position, induced the President to nom-
inate Edward Everett, then minister to Great Britain,
for the special mission to China, expecting to succeed
him at the court of St. James. But Mr. Everett pre-
ferred to remain in London, and another nomination
had to be made. The choice fell upon Caleb Cushing,
a member of Congress from Massachusetts.1
Mr. Everett was a gentleman of refined manners, and
possessed a highly cultured mind, but Mr. Cushing, a
shrewd lawyer and a plain-spoken man, was better fitted*
to cope with Chinese diplomacy.
Associated with Mr. Cushing was Fletcher Webster,
son of the Secretary of State, as secretary of the lega-
tion, and Dr. Peter Parker and Rev. E. C. Bridgman,
a missionary of Canton, were made Chinese secretaries.
A surgeon was also attached to the legation, and five
young men accompanied it as attaches. Mr. Webster,
in his letter of instructions, had said that " a number
of young gentlemen have applied to be unpaid attaches
to the mission. It will add dignity and importance to
the occasion, if your suite could be made respectable in
numbers, by accepting such offers of attendance with-
out expense to the government." A squadron of one
frigate, a sloop of war, and a steam frigate, was placed
at the service of Mr. Cushing by the Secretary of the
Navy to convey the members of the mission to China.
He thus went to his post with mueK more display than
has been usual with American diplomatry"~and it is
1 4 Presidents' Messages, 211 ; A Century of American Diplomacy, by
John W. Foster, Boston, 1900, pp. 289, 296.
80
AMEKICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
stated that on his arrival at Macao he established him-
self in the house of a former Portuguese governor, and
created " a profound sensation in the colony by the
novelty and magnitude of his mission as well as by his
attractive personal qualities;" although he reports
somewhat regretfully the arrival at Canton, just after
he had completed his mission, of a French embassy,
" arranged on a scale of much greater expense than
that of the United States," and well adapted for the
object of making a strong impression on the minds of
the Chinese.1
The letter of instructions was signed by Mr. Web-
ster, and it shows his wide grasp of public questions.
He referred to the recent occurrences in China as
likely to be of much importance as well to the United
States as to the rest of the civilized world. He anti-
cipated that the imperial government would not be
prepared to enter into close political relations ; that the
mission would be only friendly and commercial in its
objects ; and he dwelt at some length upon the already
considerable commerce and the possibility of its enlarge-
ment. Mr. Cushing was instructed to explain the geo-
graphical situation of the United States, to state that its
aims were free from territorial aggrandizement or ag-
gression, and that neither he nor his government would
encourage or protect its citizens in violating the laws of
China as to trade. Hejas-also^o-jna^
United States would insist upon equality in intercourse,
that he was not a " tribute-bearer," and that it was not
1 S. Doc. 138, 28th Cong. 2d Sess. p. 6; Life and Letters of S. Wells
Williams, by F. W. Williams, New York, 1889, p. 126.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 81
the practice_oiJiis_government either to give^or^receive
"""pfosseata, He was directed to reach Peking, if possible,
in order to place the letter of the President to the em-
peror into the hands of that sovereign, or of some high
official in his presence, and to consult the national pride
as far as possible, but under no circumstances to do any
act that would imply the inferiority of his government.
It was expected that he would make a treaty similar to
that of Great Britain, and if he was able to make one
containing fuller stipulations, it would be conducting
Chinese intercourse one step further towards the prin-
ciples which regulate the public relations of the Euro-
pean and American states.
While the letter of instructions was dignified and
able, the letter signed by the President and addressed
to the emperor of China fell much below that charac-
ter. In the interval between Mr. Cushing's appoint-
ment and his departure, Mr. Webster had retired, and
the Department of State passed through ad interim
hands, during which time the letter of the President to
the emperor was drafted. Its merit may be seen from
the following extracts : —
" I, John Tyler, President of the United States of
America — which States are [here follow the list] —
send you this letter of peace and friendship, signed by
my own hand.
" I hope your health is good. China is a great em- y
pire, extending over a great part of the earth. The
Chinese are numerous. You have millions and millions
of subjects. The twenty-six United States are as large
as China, though our people are not so numerous. The/ 1
82 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
rising sun looks upon the great mountains and rivers
of China. When he sets, he looks upon rivers and
mountains equally large in the United States. . . .
Now my words are, that the governments of two such
great countries should be at peace. It is proper, and
tccording to the will of Heaven, that we should respect
>ach other, and act wisely. I therefore send to you
Jount Caleb dishing, one of the wise and learned men
>f this country. On his arrival in your country, he
ill inquire for your health. . . . Our minister is au-
thorized to make a treaty to regulate trade. Let it be
just. Let there be no unfair advantage on either side.
. And so may your health be good, and may peace
reign." *
The American squadron bearing Mr. Cushing and
his suite anchored off the Portuguese port of Macao
February 24, 1844. On the 27th he sent a letter to
the governor-general of the provinces, of which Canton
is the capital, informing him that he had arrived, hold-
ing a commission from the President of the United
States to negotiate, with a like commissioner of the
emperor of China, a treaty to regulate the intercourse
between the two countries ; that he was on his way to
Peking to deliver to the emperor a letter from the Pre-
sident ; but that as his vessels must be detained a few
days at Macao before proceeding to the Pei-ho, he em-
braced the occasion to address the governor-general, as
the nearest authority, to express the most ardent wishes
of his government and himself for the health, the hap-
piness, the prosperity, and the long life of his Imperial
1 S. Doc. 138, pp. 1, 8, 28th Cong. 2d Sess.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 83
Majesty ; and he asked of his excellency the favor to
be immediately informed of the well-being of the em-
peror in order that he might communicate it to the
President.
This communication initiated a correspondence which
continued for three months. The Chinese are accom-
plished letter writers, but the governor-general found
in the astute American lawyer quite a match for him-
self. The governor responded to Mr. Cushing's first
note, in which the latter " truly, sincerely, and respect- I
fully inquired after the health and happiness of the
August Emperor, which evinced respectful obedience,
and politeness exceedingly to be praised ; " and he in-
formed him that the great emperor was in the enjoy-
ment of happy old age and quiet health, and was at
peace with all, both far and near. But as to going to
Peking, it was not to be thought of till, waiting outside,
the " August Emperor's will " had been ascertained ;
that for a man-of-war to go hastily to Tientsin was " to
put an end to civility, and to rule without harmony ; "
that if the business was to negotiate about trade, the
emperor must appoint a commissioner to come to the
frontier ; and that the American envoy should await
at Macao till the emperor was advised of his mission
and his wishes were made known.
Mr. Cushing replied that the Chinese government
had been notified by the American consul several
months in advance that he was to arrive for the pur-
pose of negotiating a treaty,1 and if it had been the
desire of the emperor to negotiate at the frontier, he
1 Consul Forbes, Oct. 7, 1843, Consular Archives.
84 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
would have sent a commissioner to Canton for that pur-
pose ; that he had been instructed to go to Peking and
deliver the President's letter to the emperor ; and if the
governor did not think it prudent for him to go to
Tientsin in a warship, he was ready to proceed to the
capital overland.
The governor, in response to this proposition, said
the way was long overland, the crossing of the rivers
was inconvenient, and he desired to save the American
envoy the great trouble and weariness the journey
would occasion him ; that he would notify the august
emperor of the envoy's arrival, and memorialize the
throne for the appointment of a commissioner ; and
that in the mean time he should " tranquillize himself "
at Macao, as otherwise his movements might eventuate
in the loss of the invaluable blessing of peace.
There seemed nothing else for Mr. Cushing to do but
accept the situation, nevertheless he found enough to
occupy the months consumed in learning the emperor's
will. The commander of the flagship, the Brandywine,
thought to take a sail up the river to Canton, but he
was stopped at Whampoa, and ordered to return to the
anchorage at Macao. Mr. Cushing protested that it
was only a friendly visit, but he was told that the Brit-
ish governor of Hongkong after the peace, in making
a visit to Canton, left his ship at the mouth of the river
and came up in a small boat ; that the commander of
the Brandywine must do likewise, and by a return of
his ship to Macao he would obey the fixed laws of the
land, and exhibit the courteous friendliness subsisting
between the two nations.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 85
After two and a half months had passed, Mr. Crush-
ing was advised of the emperor's decision. " America
never as yet having gone through with presenting trib-
ute/' the coming to Tientsin and the capital to nego-
tiate would be irregular ; that he had appointed as
high commissioner with the imperial seal, Tsiyeng (or
Kiying) ; and that he was traveling with all speed to
Canton to meet the American plenipotentiary. The
appointment of Tsiyeng was a happy one, as he pos-
sessed fully the emperor's confidence, and had shown
his fitness for the work in the supplementary treaty as
to trade which he had a few months before agreed upon
with the British plenipotentiary.
On the 9th of June Mr. Cushing received a letter
from Tsiyeng, advising him of his arrival in Canton,
and added that " in a few days we shall take each other
by the hand, and converse and rejoice together with
indescribable delight." In view of the many delays
and tergiversations experienced, doubtless Mr. Cushing
accepted this as a somewhat exaggerated figure of
speech. But his relations with Tsiyeng proved in the
main quite satisfactory. Only one untoward incident
need be noticed. In the address of two of the com-
munications of the commissioner, the name of the Chi-
nese government stood higher in column by one char-
acter than that of the United States, a Chinese method
of indicating the relative dignity of the parties to a
correspondence. Mr. Cushing returned the letters with
an expression of his belief that his excellency would
" see the evident propriety of adhering to the form of
V
86 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
national equality.' ' Tsiyeng immediately caused the
address to be corrected and returned.1
The Chinese high commissioner and his suite arrived
at Macao on June 16. After a few days spent in the
exchange of visits and social courtesies, the formal nego-
tiations were opened on the 21st, by the submission of
a draft of treaty proposed by Mr. Cushing. The Sec-
retary, Mr. Webster, and the two Chinese secretaries of
the legation met three members of the Chinese embassy,
and discussed the project in detail, with occasional con-
ferences between Mr. Cushing and Tsiyeng. The treaty
was concluded without any serious difficulty, and pre-
liminary to its signature a dinner was given to the Chi-
nese embassy at the house of the American legation,
attended by the American ladies residing at Macao.
On July 3, 1844, the treaty was signed at the temple
occupied by the Chinese embassy, in a suburb of Macao
called Wang Hiya. The ceremony of signing was a
simple one, the members of the legation and embassy
being the only witnesses, and no presents were made.
After the execution of the treaty, an entertainment
was served by the Chinese, and congratulations were
exchanged on the speedy and happy issue of the nego-
tiations. A singular fact attended these events. Mr.
Cushing had not set foot on Chinese territory nor had
he had personal intercourse with a single high Chinese
official except the embassy up to the time of signing
the treaty, and that instrument had been negotiated
and executed on foreign (Portuguese) territory.
1 For full correspondence, S. Ex. Doc. 67, pp. 2-38, 28th Cong. 2d
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 87
Mr. Cushing having abandoned the idea of going to
Peking, the letter of the President to the emperor of
China was delivered to Tsiyeng at the time of signing
the treaty, upon his assurance that he would respect-
fully forward it to his august sovereign.
In transmitting a copy of the treaty to the Secretary
of State, Mr. Cushing pointed out sixteen particulars in
which his treaty contained provisions not embraced in
the British treaty negotiated at the conclusion of the
war. In his dispatch he says : " I ascribe all possible
honor to the ability displayed by Sir Henry Pottinger
in China, and to the success which attended his nego-
tiations ; and I recognize the debt of gratitude which
the United States and all other nations owe to England,
for what she has accomplished in China. From all this
much benefit has accrued to the United States. But,
in return, the treaty of Wang Hiya, in the new pro-
visions it makes, confers a great benefit on the com-
merce of the British empire ; . . . and thus whatever
progress either government makes in opening this vast
empire to the influence of foreign commerce is for the
common good of each other and of all Christendom." 1
One of the most important of the provisions of the
Cushing treaty was that relating to what is known in
international law as "exterritoriality," as applied to
non-Christian countries. This principle had been ob-
served to a limited extent for many years between the
European and Mohammedan countries ; but in this
treaty it was broadened and made more explicit by the
1 For text of treaty, see Treaties and Conventions of United States,
144 ; for correspondence, S. Ex. Doc. 67 cited, pp. 38, 77.
88 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
skill of an able lawyer. In criminal cases the offender
was to be tried by the laws and authorities of his own
country. In civil cases between American citizens in
China their consuls were to have exclusive jurisdiction,
and civil cases between Americans and Chinese were to
be adjusted by the joint action of the authorities of the
two nations.
On this subject Mr. Cushing's position was that
Western nations could not make civilization the test of
quality of intercourse, for it was impossible to deny to
hina a high degree of civilization, though, in many
rispects, differing from theirs ; but it is such as to give
to her as complete a title to the appellation of civilized,
many, if not most, of the states of Christendom can
aim. In an exhaustive review of the subject to the
ecretary of State, he said : " I entered China with
the formed general conviction, that the United States
ought not to concede to any foreign state, under any
circumstances, jurisdiction over the life and liberty of
i any citizen of the United States, unless that foreign
\ state be of our own family of nations ; in a word, a
Christian state. The states of Christendom are bound
\ together by treaties, which confer mutual rights and
| prescribe reciprocal obligations. . . . How different the
condition of things out of the limits of Christendom.
' ... As between them and us, there is no community
of ideas, no common law of nations, no interchange of
good offices." To none of the governments of this
character did it seem to him safe to commit the lives
and liberties of citizens of the United States.
The privilege of exterritoriality had a very early
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 89
origin, but in its modern application it may be traced
to the time of the occupation of Constantinople by
Mohammed II., when he freely gave to the Christian
residents substantially the same privileges they had
previously enjoyed. It was done as much for the con-
venience of the sovereign as for the foreign powers.
As early as the ninth century the Chinese granted
special privileges to the Arabs, who built a mosque at
Canton and were governed by their own laws. During
the intercourse of the Cantonese authorities with Euro-
peans up to the time of the Opium War, the latter were
not interfered with except in criminal acts against Chi-
nese. The Portuguese at Macao were given local self-
government, and the consuls in the foreign settlement
outside of Canton were permitted to exercise jurisdiction
over their countrymen. Hence it was not difficult for
Mr. Cushing to secure the large grant of treaty powers
indicated. For the enforcement of these powers in for-
eign countries Congress has passed various statutes.1
His services in this respect gained for Mr. Cushing
much credit, and his treaty, because of its fullness of
detail and its clear statement of rights, became the
leading authority in settling disputes between the Chi-
nese and foreigners up to the- treaty revision of 1858-
1860. A high British authority of the period, already
cited, writes : " The United States government in their
treaty with China, and in vigilant protection of their
i S. Ex. Doc. 58, p. 4, 28th Cong. 2d Sess. ; Cushing's Opinion, 7
Opinions Attys. Genl. 342 ; President Angell in 6 Am. Hist. Review, Jan-
uary, 1901, p. 255. An act was passed by the 30th Congress in 1848, see
9 U. S. Stat, at L. 276 ; also U. S. Revised Statutes, sects. 4083-4130.
90 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
subjects at Canton, have evinced far better diplomacy,
and more attention to substantial interests than we have
done, although it has not cost them as many groats as
we have spent guineas, while their position in China is
really more advantageous and respected than that of
England, after all our sacrifices of blood and trea-
sure." l
But it was not the good fortune of the American
envoy to escape criticism entirely. His intercourse with
the Chinese plenipotentiary seemed to have been of a
very satisfactory character, but when Tsiyeng came to
send his report to the emperor he was neither polite
nor complimentary in the use of language, as the fol-
lowing extracts from his memorial show: "The original
copy of the treaty, presented by the said barbarian
envoy, contained forty-seven stipulations. Of these
some were difficult of execution, others foolish demands ;
and the treaty was, moreover, so meanly and coarsely
expressed, the words and sentences were so obscure, and
there was such a variety of errors, that it was next to
impossible to point them out. Your slave Tsiyeng,
therefore, directed the treasurer Hwang and all the
deputed mandarins to hold interviews with the Amer-
icans for days together. We clearly pointed out what-
ever was comprehensible to iwM*w»-in^ ^wfrr +** rKappl
usfcupid ignorance, and to put a stop to delusive
hopes; ancTwe wer^ "obliged to polish those passages
which were scarcely intelligible. . . . Some points have
been discussed more than a thousand times at least,
others five or six times. It was then that the said bar-
1 Williams's Hist. China, 215 ; 1 Montgomery Martin's China, 428.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 91
barian envoy submitted to reason, and being at a loss
what to say, was willing and agreed to have the objec-
tionable clauses expunged." 1 An examination of Tsi-
yeng's extended memorial shows that it was his own
ignorance of international law and the usages of nations
that made Mr. Cushing's first treaty draft a labyrinth
of mysteries to him. The latter, after he had con-
cluded his negotiations, spoke of his Chinese colleague
in high terms as u a liberal-minded statesman." Possi-
bly Mr. Cushing might have modified his estimate of his
character had he been aware of his report to the em-
peror. It will be seen that Tsiyeng's later career did
not justify it.
Although the special duty which brought Mr. Cush-
ing to China had been accomplished in the signing of
the treaty, he remained for some time to care for the
interests of the American residents. Among other
matters he concerted an arrangement with the gov-
ernor-general for the extension of the grounds of his
countrymen at Canton, the construction of a solid wall
about the factories, the erection of gates to the foreign
settlement, and the establishment of an efficient police
for its protection and the enforcement of sanitary regu-
lations.
The coming of the mission was the innocent cause of
much trouble to the Cantonese and foreign residents,
for the squadron which bore it also brought to the
American consul a new flagstaff and weather-vane.
About the time of its erection sickness prevailed to an
unusual extent in Canton and its vicinity, and it was
1 1 Montgomery Martin's China, 424.
92 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
attributed to the evil effects of the weather-vane. The
feeling became so intense that the consulate was threat-
ened by a mob, and in order to quell the excitement
the weather-vane had to be removed. The native
gentry, appreciating the conciliatory action of the con-
sul, issued a proclamation to the people to quiet their
animosity, in which they described the vane "which
shot towards all quarters, thereby causing serious im-
pediment to the felicity and good fortunes of the
land." Commending the conduct of the consul and his
countrymen, the proclamation closes thus : " Having
shown themselves obliging, we ought to excuse them.
Henceforth, we sincerely pray that all may be at peace,
and thus looking up we may participate in our emper-
or's earnest desire to regard people from afar with
compassion. "
While the negotiations for the treaty were in progress
at Macao a mob assaulted the foreign settlement, and
in self-defense a party of Americans fired upon the
assailants and a Chinaman was killed. The authorities
demanded the delivery of the party firing the fatal shot,
and a correspondence ensued between Mr. Cushing and
Tsiyeng. A jury of Americans, impaneled by the
consul, examined the affair and decided that it was
clearly an act of self-defense, and Mr. Cushing induced
the authorities to accept this investigation as a satisfac-
tory form of trial. It is noted as the first criminal case
in China after the negotiation of the treaties in which
the practice of exterritoriality was recognized.1
1 13 Chinese Repository, 276 ; S. Ex. Doc. 67, p. 62, cited ; 1 Mont-
gomery Martin's China, 413.
I- I II
I. ///
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 93
Severe criticism has been passed upon Mr. Cushing forV\
not executing the instructions of his government to go \\
to Peking, and, upon his arrival at Canton, for permit-
ting himself to be diverted from his announced inten-
tion to proceed to Tientsin with his naval squadron.
He evidently felt the force of this criticism, as he made>
his action in this regard the subject of several dis-
patches to the Secretary of State. It4s-appar^nt f rom
the correspondence that he could not have persisted in
his purpose to go to Tientsin without awakening the
suspicion, if not hostility, of the Chinese ; neither
would he have been permitted to hold audience with
the emperor at Peking, without submitting to indigni-
ties in conflict with his instructions and his own sense
of independence and honor. The main purpose of his
mission was to secure a treaty to protect Americans in
their commerce. This he successfully accomplished.
He would possibly have failed in this object had he
gone to Tientsin. A British writer says, that upon
the arrival of the French embassy, with a large naval
force, the French envoy proposed to Mr. Cushing to
go jointly to Tientsin, and insist upon an audience of
the emperor.1 Mr. Cushing makes no mention of this
in his correspondence, but if such a proposition was
made he acted wisely in declining it. His treaty had
already been signed with a cordial exchange of con-
gratulations, and a hostile demonstration so near the
capital would have been justly interpreted by the Chi-
nese as a breach of good faith.
* S. Ex. Doc. 67, pp. 32, 34, 39, 58 ; 1 Montgomery Martin's China,
424.
94 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
On August 27, 1844, just six months after his arrival,
Mr. Cushing sailed from Macao, for San Bias, Mexico,
whence he proceeded overland to Vera Cruz, and thence
to Washington.
The man who so skillfully conducted the negotiations
which initiated the diplomatic intercourse of the United
States with the great empire of China calls for more
than a passing notice. He was a unique figure in
American political affairs, and occupied a prominent
place before the public for more than forty years.
After graduating at Harvard College he devoted him-
self to the law, and began public life as a Jeffersonian
Democrat ; he successively held the offices of member
of the legislature, member of congress, and justice of
the supreme court of Massachusetts; joined the Whig
party in the campaign of 1840 ; transferred his party
allegiance to Tyler on the death of Harrison as Presi-
dent ; for many years was an ardent Democrat, strongly
supporting the Mexican war, in which he was a general ;
a faithful adherent of the Southern wing of the party
at the Charleston and Baltimore conventions, which
nominated Breckinridge as the proslavery candidate
for President in 1860 ; became a supporter of Lincoln
and the Union cause ; a follower of President Johnson,
and again a Republican during the Grant administra-
tion. Thrice was he nominated by Tyler as Secretary
of the Treasury and thrice rejected by the Senate ; he
held the post of Attorney-General under Pierce; and
was three times minister to foreign countries ; and his
last public duty was as counsel, associated with Evarts
and Waite, before the Geneva tribunal of arbitration.
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 95
No man of his time had such a checkered political
career.
He was an accomplished scholar, and one of the ablest
lawyers in the United States. Few men of his genera-
tion rendered such important services to his country.
Yet, notwithstanding his acknowledged abilities, his
character was not such as to command public confi-
dence. He was nominated by President Grant to be
chief justice of the supreme court, but the Senate failed
to confirm him. He is one of several examples in
American history, where moral obliquity has, in the
judgment of the American people, been an obstacle to
a public man's preferment.
The negotiation of a treaty with France soon followed
that made with the United States in 1844, and both the
Chinese and foreigners began to adapt themselves to the
new conditions. But more or less trouble was experi-
enced at all of the five treaty ports and more especially
at Canton. Here the unruly population resisted the
proclamation, issued by the governor-general in execu-
tion of the treaties, to open the city to the intercourse
of foreigners ; riots occurred in which the American and
other consulates and commercial houses were threat-
ened, and the opposition continued so serious that the
attempt to open the gates was abandoned, and Canton
remained closed till the war of 1858. * In lieu of the
observance of the treaties in this respect, the area of
the foreign settlements outside the walls was enlarged,
and in other respects the authorities manifested a fair
degree of interest in the enforcement of the treaties.
1 15 Chinese Repository, 46, 364.
96 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
American commerce seemed to have received an im-
pulse from the treaties. The arrivals of American
ships in 1848 are reported as follows : 67 at Canton,
20 at Shanghai, and 8 at Amoy, standing first after
the British. It is seen that Canton still held the bulk
of the trade as against Shanghai, which was soon to
become the centre of foreign commerce.
Upon the retirement of Mr. Cushing in 1845, Alex-
ander H. Everett was appointed commissioner to China.
He reached Canton in October, 1846, in ill health, and
died at that place June 29, 1847. He had had large
diplomatic experience, having been minister at St. Pe-
tersburg, The Hague, and Madrid, and was a gentleman
of high natural endowments and literary attainments.
His death so soon after his arrival at his post was
much lamented, and his obsequies were attended by all
the foreign officials, diplomatic, consular, and military.
His successor was John W. Davis, of Indiana.
The residence of the American diplomatic representa-
tive was nominally in the foreign settlement outside the
walls of Canton, but until the opening of Peking to the
diplomatic representatives of the treaty powers in 1860
their residence was of a peripatetic character. The im-
perial government delegated a high commissioner to re-
side at Canton, with whom the foreign representatives
were to hold diplomatic intercourse, but the sequel will
show that audience with him was rarely attainable, and
the diplomats found a residence at the Portuguese port
of Macao more agreeable. The rising commercial im-
portance of Shanghai led to frequent visits by them to
that place, and Hongkong, where the British governor
THE FIRST CHINESE TREATIES 97
was established, was also found a convenient place of
call or temporary sojourn. It required another war
and the march of hostile armies into the Chinese cap-
ital to open it to the visit and residence of the repre-
sentatives of the foreign powers.
X
IV
INDEPENDENT HAWAII
The situation and resources of the Hawaiian Islands
pointed them out to early navigators as destined to
play an important part in the commercial and political
affairs of the Pacific. Standing alone in the great
ocean, the group must necessarily act as an outpost of
the North American continent. Lying in the track of
navigation from the central part of that continent to
the great islands in the South Pacific, and in the direct
course from the Isthmus of Panama to Japan and China,
it was plain their harbors would become the resort of the
shipping of the world. The trade winds which con-
stantly fanned their shores and the cold currents from
the Arctic seas made for these islands within the tropics
\ a most healthful and delicious climate. The genial sun,
the plentiful rains, and the mountain elevations caused
the soil to respond to every desire of man. It was verily
the Paradise of the Pacific.
• The islands were not discovered until two years after
the United States had declared its independence. But
in the very year that the new government was set in
motion under President Washington, American traders
established themselves there and initiated a commerce,
which, with these islands as a base of operations, soon
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 99
grew into a flourishing and lucrative trade, and for the
succeeding century made the American influence the
predominating factor in their destinies.
Keference has already been made to the fur trade
which was early carried on by the vessels of the United
States between the northwest coast of America and
Canton. This trade had its origin in the action of
several merchants of Boston in 1787, who formed an
association for the purpose of combining the fur trade
of that coast with the Chinese trade. With this object
in view they freighted two ships, the Columbia, Captain
Kendrick, and the Washington, Captain Gray, with
articles especially adapted for barter with the Indians,
and the vessels set sail, via Cape Horn, on their long
voyage through an unknown sea. After many trials
they reached their destination, in 1788, exchanged their
merchandise for furs, loaded them on the Columbia,
under command of Gray, which vessel made the voyage
to Canton, there bartered the furs for a cargo of tea
and returned to Boston by the Cape of Good Hope,
after an absence of three years, thus having the distinc-
tion of being the first ship to carry the American flag
around the world.
Kendrick, with the Washington, remained on the
coast, and afterwards established himself on the Ha-
waiian Islands, where he lost his life by accident in
1793. Gray left Boston on his second trading voyage
in 1790, and it was in the course of this expedition that
he discovered and entered the Columbia River. To the
Boston fur traders must be ascribed the credit of lay-
ing the foundation of the great territorial possessions
/
100 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
of the United States on the Pacific slope of the conti-
nent.1
The pioneer venture of the Columbia marked out
the course of traffic to be pursued by the many ships
which soon followed. They sailed mainly from the
ports of New England, ladened with merchandise and
trinkets for the Indians, and passing around Cape Horn
went direct to the northwest coast. Here they ex-
changed with the natives their goods for furs. As the
inclement weather approached they resorted to the Ha-
waiian Islands, where they spent the winter drying and
curing their peltries. The following spring found them
again trading along the American coast, whence return-
ing to the islands they took on board the skins gathered
the year before, and sailed for Canton. By the sale or
barter of these furs they laid in a cargo of teas, silks,
porcelain, etc., and returned to the United States after
an absence of two or three years. The profits of this
trade, as already shown, were very large, amounting in
successful voyages, according to some narratives, to
" one thousand per cent, every second year." But it
involved great perils and arduous labors, and called
forth energy, courage, and skill — characteristics which
distinguished the early American navigators.2
Captain Vancouver, R. N., who was sent out by the
1 Hist, of Oregon, etc., R. Greenhow, Boston, 1845, pp. 179, 200, 229,
235 ; Oregon and Eldorado, T. Bulfinch, Boston, 1866, pp. 1-3 ; North-
west Fur Trade, W. Sturgis, Hunt's Mag. xiv. 534.
8 Hist, of Oregon, R. Greenhow, 266 ; 1 Astoria, "Washington Irving,
New York, p. 31 ; Adventures of the First Settlers, etc., A. Ross, Lon-
don, 1849, p. 4 ; Hist, of Hawaiian People, W. D. Alexander, New York,
1891, p. 127.
\
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 101
British government on a voyage of discovery, visited
these islands in 1792, and found American traders al-
ready located there. He discourses at some length in
his narrative upon " the commercial interests they are
endeavoring to establish in these seas ; " refers to the
new industry being developed by them in, sandalwood,
which abounded in the islands and commanded an ex-
orbitant price in China and India ; and he states that
such immense profits had been derived by the Ameri-
cans from the fur trade that it was expected as many \
as twenty vessels would arrive the next season from
New England to engage in the industry. Captain De-
lano of Boston, already cited as an early voyager of
extensive travels, spent some time at the Hawaiian
Islands in 1801. He speaks of a company of Boston
merchants which had been established there for some
years engaged in the fur and sandalwood trade, which
they had found very profitable ; and he predicted the
future importance of the islands because of their cen-
tral situation, the delightful climate, and fertile soil.[
For twenty or thirty years the Americans had almost
the exclusive control of this lucrative trade, for the
reason that the Russians were limited to the overland
intercourse with China, and private British ships were
excluded from the Canton market by the monopoly of
the East India Company, which did not venture into
the fur trade. Sandalwood proved a great additional
source of profit to the Americans, as it also was to the
islanders. The king and chiefs held the cutting of the
wood as a special privilege, and it was described as " a
mine of wealth " for them. By means of it they were
102 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
enabled to supply themselves with schooners, boats,
arms, ammunition, liquors, etc. Writers of the period
refer to sandalwood as " the standard coin," it being
for the natives the chief article of barter.1
In the course of time, however, the character of the
commerce and intercourse with the islands changed.
For various reasons the fur trade lost much of its value,
and the supply of sandalwood began to be exhausted.
In this languishing state of trade, an industry, new to
the North Pacific, suddenly sprang into importance, but
fortunately for the American supremacy in the islands
it was one in which they had long held preeminence in
other parts of the world. The first vessel engaged in
whaling arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1819, but
the number rapidly multiplied and the commerce of the
islands was soon transformed by them.
While they were yet colonists of Great Britain, the
Americans had shown their superior skill in the whal-
ing industry. The statistics show that in 1775 the
principal countries engaged in it were as follows :
France, a very few vessels; Holland, 129 vessels; Eng-
land, 96; while the American colonies had 309 vessels,
manned by 4000 seamen, with a product in oil and
whalebone of $1,111,000 in value. Edmund Burke,
in his famous speech for conciliation with the colonies,
devoted one of his eloquent passages to the American
whaler. He said : " Look at the manner in which the
people of New England have of late carried on the
1 1 A Voyage of Discovery, etc., Captain George Vancouver, London,
1798, pp. 172, 188 ; Delano's Voyages, 397, 399 ; Alexander's Hawaii,
156 ; Papers of Hawaiian Hist. Society, No. 8, p. 15.
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 103
whale fishery. Whilst we follow them among the tum-
bling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating
into the deepest recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's
Straits, whilst we are looking for them beneath the
Arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the
opposite region of Polar cold — that they are at the An-
tipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the
South. . . . No ocean but what is vexed with their
fisheries, no climate that is not witness to their toils.
Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity
of France, nor the dextrous and firm sagacity of
English enterprise, ever carried their perilous mode
of hardy enterprise to the extent to which it has been
pushed by this recent people — a people who are still,
as it were, in the gristle, and not yet hardened into
the bone of manhood." *
The war of the Revolution, from which Burke would
have gladly saved them, and which suspended their ac-
tivity in that direction, did not turn the New Englanders
from their chosen avocation. Within two months after
the preliminary treaty of peace was signed and before
the permanent treaty had been agreed upon, a London
newspaper of the period announced : " On the third of
February, 1783, the ship Bedford, Captain Moores, be-
longing to Massachusetts, arrived in the Downs. She
was not allowed regular entry until after some consul-
tation between the commissioners of customs and the
Lords of the Council, on account of the many acts of
Parliament yet in force against the rebels of America.
She was loaded with 587 barrels of whale oil and manned
1 2 Works of Edmund Burke, Boston, 1866, p. 117.
104 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
wholly with American seamen, and belonged to the island
of Nantucket. The vessel lay at the Horsley-Downs, a
little below the Tower, and was the first which displayed
the thirteen stripes of America in any British port."
Notwithstanding this early indication of activity, the
whale fishery did not quickly assume its former propor-
tions, owing to the heavy bounties of other governments
and the embarrassment to our commerce from the Na-
poleonic wars. Not till after the second war with Eng-
land did the American industry regain its ascendancy.
These reasons explain the late appearance of its whaling
vessels in the Pacific. In 1847, when the industry was
near its height, it is estimated that the total number of
vessels of all nations engaged was about 900, and that
of this number more than 800 were Americans, repre-
senting an investment of $20,000,000 and an annual
product of $13,000,000.
The whaling vessels visiting the Hawaiian Islands
soon increased. Six arrived the year after the first one
appeared in 1819, the year following more than thirty
are reported, and in 1822 twenty-four whalers were seen
in Honolulu at one time. From that period forward to
the Civil War, when the American whaling fleet was
almost swept from the ocean by the Confederate cruisers,
the whaling interest was the prominent feature of the
island commerce. The number of vessels entered at
the port of Honolulu for twenty years from 1824 was
2008, of which 1712 were whalers, and more than three
fourths of them were American. The business reached
its culmination about 1845, when the local government
reported that 497 whalers, manned by 14,905 sailors,
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 105
refreshed in the ports of the islands. As late as 1863
the number of whaling vessels visiting Honolulu was
102, of which 92 were American. But during the year
following one of the Confederate cruisers appeared in
the North Pacific, and the industry for a time disap-
peared. The fleet fell off to 47 in 1871, and since
that date has steadily declined, owing in great measure
to the scarcity of whales. But for more than thirty
years it was the chief dependence of the islands for
their prosperity; the vessels disbursed large sums for
supplies and repairs ; and the inhabitants, being excel-
lent seamen, were largely employed on the vessels.1
Notwithstanding the commercial interests caused the
American influence to be predominant in the Hawaiian
Islands, a new element was added which increased it
and still more affected the social and political develop-
ment. When they were discovered by Captain Cook in
1778, the different islands were ruled by rival chiefs and
were almost continuously in a state of warfare. Captain
Vancouver, on his arrival in 1792, found Kamehameha,
king of the island of Hawaii, the largest of the group,
intent on bringing all the other chiefs into subjection
to his rule. He was possessed of military capacity and
of many of the higher qualities of manhood, and Van-
couver not only advised the rival chiefs to accept his
sovereignty, but he instructed him in the arts of war
1 Hist. American Whale Fisheries, A. Starbuck, U. S. Fish Commis-
sion, 1875-6, pt. iv. pp. 96, 225; Residence in Sandwich Islands, H. Bing-
ham, New York, 1847, p. 609 ; Hist. Hawaiian Islands, J. J. Jarves,
Boston, 1843, p. 231; The Hawaiian Islands, R. Anderson, Boston, 1865,
p. 251 ; Alexander's Hawaii, 181, 297 ; W. H. Seward in U. S. Senate,
July 29, 1852, Cong. Globe, vol. xxiv. pt. ii. p. 1973, 32d Cong. 1st Sess.
106 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
and built and armed for him a small vessel, which proved
an important addition to his military establishment.
Kamehameha eventually became the ruler of the
whole group, and thus kid the foundation of Hawaiian
nationality. He ended his career in 1819, and his
; death was followed by strange and unexpected events.
The natives had for generations been practicing a de-
grading and sanguinary idolatry and a superstitious and
tyrannical system known as tabu. The advisers of the
young king Liholiho induced him to put an end to both
as false and as injurious to his people.
These events synchronized with the dispatch from
Boston, by the American Board of Foreign Missions, —
an organization of the Congregational churches of New
England, — of a company of missionaries to propagate
among the Hawaiians the doctrines of Christianity. A
zeal for foreign missions had a few years before been
awakened in the churches of that denomination espe-
cially, and the attention of their board of missions
being attracted to the Hawaiian Islands by the intimate
relations of the New England merchants and vessels with
them, this movement was set on foot to convert the
natives to Christianity.
The first missionaries were kindly received, and hope-
fully entered upon their labors under favorable condi-
tions. Additional missionaries were sent out from the
Boston board, and soon they were actively at work
throughout the group. Such great success attended
their labors that within a few years the larger part of
the population were reported as adherents of Chris-
tianity, including the king and the court. In 1843,
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 107
John Quincy Adams, then chairman of the Committee
of Foreign Affairs of the House, made a report to Con-
gress in which he spoke of this achievement as follows :
" It is a subject of cheering contemplation to the friends
of human improvement and virtue that, by the mild
and gentle influence of Christian charity, dispensed by
humble missionaries of the gospel unarmed with secular
power within the last quarter of a century, the people
of this group of islands have been converted from the
lowest abasement of idolatry to the blessings of the
Christian gospel; united under one balanced govern-
ment; rallied to the fold of civilization by a written
language and constitution providing security for the
rights of persons, property, and mind, and invested with
all the elements of right and power which can entitle
them to be acknowledged by their brethren of the
human race as a separate and independent commu-
nity." » _
The islands were visited in 1860 by the well-known
American, Richard H. Dana, who, after spending some
time in investigating the work of the missionaries, on
his return to the United States published an article
upon the subject. From his high standing as a lawyer,
and from the fact that he was not a member of the de-
nomination which wrought this great transformation in
the population, his statement carries great weight. The
following extract is taken from his article : " It is no
small thing to say of the missionaries of the American
Board that in less than forty years they have taught
this whole people to read and to write, to cipher and to
1 H. Report No. 93, 27th Cong. 3d Sess.
108 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
sew. They have given them an alphabet, grammar,
and dictionary ; preserved their language from extinc-
tion ; given it a literature, and translated into it the
Bible and works of devotion, science, entertainment,
etc. They have established schools, reared up native
teachers, and so pressed their work that now the pro-
portion of inhabitants who can read and write is greater
than in New England ; and whereas they found these
islanders a nation of half-naked savages, living in the
surf and on the sand, eating raw fish, fighting among
themselves, tyrannized over by feudal chiefs, and aban-
doned to sensuality, they now see them decently clothed,
recognizing the laws of marriage, knowing something
of accounts, going to school and public worship with
more regularity than the people do at home ; and the
more elevated of them taking part in conducting the
affairs of the constitutional monarchy under which
they live, holding seats on the judicial bench and in
the legislative chambers, and filling posts in the local
magistracies."
The result of this work of the missionaries was seen
in the new order of things in society and government.
Regulations were decreed by which the outward exhibi-
tion of licentiousness and intemperance was sought to
be restrained, crime and disorder punished, and the civil
rights of the people enforced by judicial process. The
government, which had before been a despotic autocracy,
assumed a constitutional form, and the king was aided
by an organized body of advisers, and later by a legisla-
tive assembly. This political reorganization was almost
entirely the work of the missionaries. They were not
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 109
always free from mistakes in government, but they
always studied the good of the people and the best in-
terests of the king.1
Much diversity of sentiment has been expressed by
writers upon the effects of the labors of the Christian
missionaries in the Orient, but the better judgment
of candid observers is in favor of their beneficial in-
fluence on the rulers and the people, even aside from
the religious considerations involved. Their useful
service in connection with the diplomatic intercourse
of the Western nations with the Far East has been es-
pecially conspicuous. Notice has already been taken of
the valuable participation of the Catholic missionaries,
both as interpreters and advisers, in the negotiation of
the first treaty between China and Russia in 1689. It
has also been seen that in other missions to Peking dur-
ing the eighteenth century the Christian fathers were
an indispensable part of all of them.
When the British government was making arrange-
ments to send the Macartney embassy to Peking in
1792, search was made for a competent person to act
as interpreter, and the secretary to the embassy records
that " in all the British dominions not one person could
be procured properly qualified," and that after much
inquiry two Christian Chinese students were found in
the mission college at Naples, Italy, who were engaged
for that service.
1 Anderson's Hawaii, 99. For account of work of missionaries, see
Anderson, Bingham's Sandwich Islands, Jarves's History, and History of
the Sandwich Islands by S. Dibble (1843). A letter from the secretary
of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, dated May
7, 1902, estimates the total expenditures of the Board in the Hawaiian
Islands at $1,595,335.
110 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
The well-known English missionary and Chinese in-
terpreter, Dr. Kobert Morrison, was the chief inter-
preter of the Amherst embassy in 1816, and he acted
as the official interpreter and trusted adviser of the
British government and the East India Company at
Canton for twenty-five years. During the Opium War
and in the peace negotiations, Dr. Gutzlaff, the German
missionary and historian, was in the employ of the
British government, as interpreter and adviser, and was
most useful in the negotiations.1 He was also of ser-
vice to the government of the United States in a similar
capacity, as will be noticed later.
When Mr. Roberts was sent by the American gov-
ernment to negotiate treaties with Siam and other
oriental countries, he first went to Canton and there
engaged the services as interpreter of Mr. J. R. Mor-
rison, the son of Dr. Morrison. The valuable assist-
ance of Dr. Peter Parker, a missionary of the American
Board at Canton, has already been noticed in connec-
tion with Mr. Cushing's mission in 1844. In a later
chapter his further service to the government will be
mentioned. Dr. S. Wells Williams, another missionary
of the American Board, it will be seen, was associated
with Commodore Perry in the opening of Japan, and
there will be frequent occasion to refer to him in con-
nection with the diplomatic service of the United States
in the East.
These instances are cited to show what an important
part the missionaries have borne in the international
1 Staunton's Embassy, 24 ; Davis's China during the War, etc., passim;
Williams's Hist. China, 106, 184, 190, 204.
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 111
relations of the Pacific. The instances might be mul-
tiplied, and a detailed examination of these relations
will disclose that up to the middle of the last century
the Christian missionaries were an absolute necessity to
diplomatic intercourse. Their influence upon the peo-
ple and the governments of China and Japan will be
discussed later. In Hawaii, after the conversion of the
islands to Christianity, the missionaries were an ever-
present factor in public affairs, and eventually their
descendants became the leading advocates of annexa-
tion to the United States.
Before it had been determined by treaty what were
the territorial rights of the United States in Oregon,
and five years anterior to the acquisition of California,
the President announced to the world by a message to
Congress that the commercial and other interests of the
United States in Hawaii were of such a predominating
character that the government could not allow those
islands to pass into the. possession or come under the
control of any other nation. Notwithstanding the
trade relations of the United States were established
almost immediately after the discovery of the islands,
that fact did not deter other powers from repeated
efforts to secure their possession. Their commanding
situation in the Pacific was a constant temptation to
the greed of colonizing nations.
The first attempt at securing possession was made by
the British naval officer, Captain Vancouver, on his
third visit in 1794, who proceeded, as he states, " under
a conviction of the importance of those islands to Great
Britain." Before taking his departure he caused a
112 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
council of the chiefs to be convened by the king,
Kamehameha, and, upon the promise of the captain
that the British government would take them under its
protection and send them a war vessel, they " acknow-
ledged themselves to be subjects of Great Britain." A
copper plate was prepared with an inscription reciting
the fact that the king and chiefs of the island of Ha-
waii " had ceded the island to his Britannic Majesty ; "
this tablet was placed in a conspicuous position, with
much ceremony, the firing of salutes, and distribution
of presents ; and the squadron sailed away without fur-
ther act of occupation. The report of Vancouver's ac-
tion reached England during the troubles growing out
of the French Revolution, and no further attention was
given to the matter or steps taken to confirm the cession.
As early as 1809 the Russians had visited the islands,
and a few years later had some trade relations with
them. It is alleged that Baranoff, the able governor
of Russian America, seeing the desirability of making
the islands a part of the Russian possessions on the
Pacific, set on foot an expedition for that purpose. In
the year 1815 a vessel dispatched by him arrived at
Kauai, and its commander, after some conference with
the authorities, landed on the island, and proceeded
to build a stone fort, over which the Russian flag was
raised. Tikhmeneff, the Russian historian, states that
an agreement was made with the king of Kauai for
commercial privileges, by which he placed his island
under the protection of the emperor of Russia; and
that when the agreement reached the Czar he declined
to ratify it. But however that may be, as soon as
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 113
Kamehameha heard of the occupation he ordered the
Russians to leave the island, which they did under pro-
test, and the fort was destroyed. This ended all at-
tempts on the part of Russia to gain a foothold in the
group.1
The first official connection which the government
of the United States had with the islands was through
John C. Jones, who was appointed September 19, 1820,
as " agent of the United States for commerce and sea-
men." Under this appointment he discharged the
usual duties of a consul, and sustained to the govern-
ment and local authorities the relation of a political
representative. He was the sole foreign official until
1825, when Richard Charlton arrived, as consul-general
of Great Britain for the Hawaiian and Society Islands.
Both of these officials remained at their posts for a
number of years, but neither of them seems to have
been happy in their relations with the authorities, and
both were finally removed from office by their respec-
tive governments.2
In 1825 the government of the United States directed
the commander of the Pacific squadron to have one of I
its vessels visit the Hawaiian Islands to inquire into the
state of trade and concert with the government of the
islands a better method of conducting relations. The
task was intrusted to Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones,
1 3 Vancouver's Voyage, 56 ; Greenhow's Oregon, 250 ; Hopkins's
Hawaii, 123 ; 4 Foreign Relations of U. S. (folio ed.) 855 ; Jarves's Hist.
Sandwich Islands, 201 ; Hawaiian Hist. Soc, Paper No. 6.
2 A. H. Allen's Report, Foreign Relations, U. S. 1894, Appendix ii.
p. 8 ; Jarves's Hist. 251, 268 ; Hopkins's Hawaii, 274 ; 2 A Journey-
round the World, Sir George Simpson, London, 1847, p. 95.
114 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
commanding the Peacock, and the mission was dis-
charged with much credit to him and profit to the two
governments. He negotiated and signed, December 23,
1826, the first formal treaty ever entered into by the
island government with any foreign power. It con-
tained the usual stipulations of a commercial treaty of
the period, and it is especially noticeable that it recog-
nized the right and duty of the courts of the country
to exercise jurisdiction over the persons and property
of the American residents. It was a high testimonial to
the progress which had been made by the Hawaiians
in civilization that the American authorities were will-
ing to allow the native judges, who had so recently
emerged from barbarism, to pass upon the rights of
their citizens resident there. When the American gov-
ernment negotiated a treaty with China twenty years
later, and with Japan thirty years later, it reserved to its
own consuls jurisdiction over their countrymen. The
treaty with the Hawaiian king was not submitted to the
Senate and ratified in the usual form, but it continued
to be observed by both parties to it until superseded by
the treaty of 1849.1
Captain Jones found other duties to perform during
this visit. Notwithstanding the good effects of the
work of the missionaries on the natives and the rulers,
they had incurred the bitter opposition of many of the
foreign element. The character of the latter was not
in all respects commendable. It was made up in con-
siderable numbers of deserters from vessels touching at
1 Foreign Relations, 1894, App. ii. 8, 35. As to exterritoriality in
Hawaii, 7 Opinions of Attorneys-General, 29.
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 115
the ports, of escaped convicts from Botany Bay, and of
sailors of all nationalities. While there were honor-
able and upright merchants, many of the traders were
more concerned about making fortunes than conserving
the morals of the people. When the government was
reorganized under the direction of the missionaries, it
made the Mosaic commandments the basis of legisla-
tion, and strict laws were passed for the observance of
the Sabbath, and for the punishment of licentiousness
and intemperance. This strictness interfered not only
with the depraved habits of the vicious, but with the
profits of many traders. The port of Honolulu was
divided into two parties — missionary and anti-mission-
ary— and charges and counter-charges had been made.
The anti-missionary party, headed by the British con-
sul-general, proposed to submit the charges to the arbi-
tration of Captain Jones, and the proposition was ac-
cepted by the missionaries. The result was a complete
vindication of the latter. Captain Jones concludes a
report of this trial or investigation in these words :
" Not one jot or tittle, not one iota derogatory to their
character as men, as ministers of the gospel of the
strictest order, or as missionaries, could be made to ap-
pear by the united efforts of all who conspired against
them." x
Commanders of naval vessels of the United States
were often called upon in the early part of the last cen-
tury, in the far-off ports of semi-civilized and barbarous
countries, to act as peacemakers in the settlement of
differences between their countrymen and the natives,
1 Jarves's Hist. 266 ; Bingham's Sandwich Islands, 301.
116 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
and in almost all cases their action was on the side of
justice and morality. When the exception occurred it
was the more noticeable. The controversy which was
arbitrated by Captain Jones grew, in part, out of the
visit of another naval vessel of the United States, the
Dolphin, which anchored in Honolulu on the January
previous to the arrival of Captain Jones. Its crew soon
created trouble because of the regulations against pros-
titution. The Hawaiians, before their conversion to
Christianity, possessed very loose ideas as to chastity, and
upon the arrival of foreign vessels it had been the cus-
tom of the native females to go on board in large num-
bers. When the new order of government was brought
about, under the influence of the missionaries, strict
rules were enforced putting a stop to this immoral prac-
tice. It had met with the bitter opposition of the crews
of foreign vessels, but up to the arrival of the Dolphin
the new regulations were being successfully enforced.
When its crew set itself in opposition to the law, the
commander of the Dolphin took up the controversy for
his men, and denounced the law as unnecessary, and
one which they need not observe. The result was that
for a time the law was not enforced, and this action of
an armed vessel of the American navy had an evil effect
temporarily on the influence of the missionaries.
The arrival a few months after this disgraceful oc-
currence of an honorable and virtuous representative
of the United States navy and his vindication of the
missionaries did much to undo the bad example of the
crew of the Dolphin. Upon the return of this vessel
to the United States a court of inquiry was ordered, and
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 117
its conclusion was that a court-martial for the trial of
the commanding officer was not necessary. An exam-
ination of the record of the court shows that its action
was based upon purely technical grounds, and that the
officer's conduct was in the highest degree reprehen-
sible.1
Three years after the events just related the coming
of another war vessel of the United States had a very
salutary effect. In 1829 the United States naval vessel
Vincennes, Captain Finch, arrived, bearing a letter from
the Secretary of the Navy, communicating the views
and good wishes of the President. The delivery of the
letter and the presents accompanying it was made an
occasion of much ceremony and congratulation. The
letter was read in translation to King Kamehameha
III., in the presence of the chiefs and leading people,
the spirit of which may be seen from the following ex-
tract : " He [the President] has heard with interest and
admiration of the rapid progress which has been made
by your people in acquiring a knowledge of letters and
the true religion — the religion of the Christian's Bible.
These are the best, and the only means, by which the
prosperity and happiness of nations can be advanced
and continued, and the President, and all men every-
where who wish well to yourselves and your people,
earnestly hope that you will continue to cultivate them,
and to protect and encourage those by whom they are
brought to you."
It had been a much disputed question in the islands
1 Hopkins, 210 ; Jarves, 263 ; Bingham, 283 ; Report of Court of In-
quiry, Naval Archives.
118 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
whether foreigners were bound by the local laws, and
it was a great gratification to the king and his sup-
porters to have the President say, " Our citizens who
violate your laws, or interfere with your regulations,
violate at the same time their duty to their own gov-
ernment and country, and merit censure and punish-
ment ; " and to listen to his appeal that the citizens of
the United States resident in the islands should receive
the protection of the government and have their inter-
ests promoted by it. The king in his letter of reply
said : " Best affection to you, the Chief Magistrate of
America. . . . I know the excellence of your commu-
nicating to me that which is right and true. I approve
with admiration the justness and faultlessness of your
word. . . . Look on us with charity ; we have formerly
been extremely dark-minded, and ignorant of the usages
of enlightened countries. You are the source of intel-
ligence and light. This is the origin of our minds
being a little enlightened — the arrival here of the
Word of God. This is the foundation of a little men-
tal improvement which we have recently made, and that
we come to know a little of what is right, and the cus-
toms of civilized nations. On this account we do
greatly rejoice at the present time." The ceremony of
the delivery of the letter and presents was followed by
a round of civilities, in which the officers of the Vin-
cennes were entertained at the houses of the leading
natives, and the American visitors were greatly im-
pressed with the sincerity of their Christian profession
and their advance in civilized life and deportment.1
1 For. Rel. U. S. 1894, App. ii. 8, 39 ; Bingham, 353 ; Jarves, 287, 379.
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 119
The third demonstration of a foreign power against
the sovereignty of Hawaii was on the part of France in
1839. For several years previous the islands had been
greatly disturbed by the efforts of the Roman Catholic
clergy to gain a foothold and disseminate their tenets.
The king from the beginning had resisted the move-
ment, claiming that the ceremonies of that religion were
so similar to the idolatry which the people had recently
abandoned that it was not wise to allow it ; besides, he
held that it would bring a disturbing element into the
population which should be avoided. The Protestant
missionaries were charged with having influenced the
action of the king, but this they denied, and while they
said they believed in religious toleration, they pointed
to the fact that at that time freedom of worship was
not allowed in most of the Catholic countries of Eu-
rope. The British consul, jealous of the influence
of the American missionaries, warmly supported the
Catholic movement, one of the priests, an Irishman,
being a British subject. The Jesuit fathers who were
seeking the right of residence, appealed to France as
their protector, and the islands were visited at differ-
ent times by French war vessels, with a view to adjust-
ing the question with the government, but the latter
remained firm in its resolution. Various priests were
expelled, and the native adherents were arrested and
imprisoned.
On July 10, 1839, the French sixty-gun frigate
L'Artemise arrived in Honolulu, and the commander
immediately sent to the Hawaiian government a written
demand in the name of " His Majesty the King of the
120 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
French/' in which he required that it should be stipu-
lated that the Catholic worship be declared free, that a
site for a Catholic church be given by the government,
and that it deposit with the commander $20,000 as
a guarantee for the execution of the stipulation. To
these conditions he added later that the law which had
been enacted to keep out liquors be so modified as to
allow of the introduction of French liquors at a duty of
five per cent., which was a virtual abolition of all tem-
perance laws. The demand of the Artemise included
a notice that if the government did not sign a treaty
covering these stipulations, "war will immediately com-
mence, and all the devastation, all the calamities which
may be the unhappy but necessary results."
Notice was also served upon the British and Amer-
ican consuls that unless the demands were complied
with by the 13th, he would open fire upon the town,
and offering refuge and protection on his vessel to their
countrymen. But to the latter consul he added that the
American Protestant clergy would be treated as a part
of the native population when hostilities should begin.
The king was absent at one of the distant islands, and
the French commander, refusing to await his return,
forced the prime minister and the governor of Oahu
to sign the treaty. To make the humiliation of the
Hawaiians more complete, the commander brought his
crew on shore in military array with fixed bayonets,
and caused a mass to be celebrated in one of the king's
summer houses. However much the king and his advis-
ers may have been in error, the conduct of the French
government was entirely unjustifiable and would only
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 121
have been resorted to against a weak and defenseless
state.1
A short time before the Artemise affair, the British
war vessel Acteon, Lord Russell commanding, had " ne-
gotiated a treaty " under the guns of his ship. These
and other events made it apparent to the advisers of
the king that, unless the independence of the islands
could be secured by the recognition of some of the
leading maritime nations, they would continue to be
subjected to such humiliation and that their independent
existence might be terminated. Sir George Simpson,
the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, a man of
large experience in dealing with native races, being in
the islands, joined in advising that a formal appeal to
this end be made to the United States, Great Britain,
and France. Accordingly Sir George Simpson, Mr.
Richards, the missionary adviser of the king, and Haa-
lilio, a native chief, were appointed a commission to
visit the countries named, and ask for national recogni-
tion. Sir George Simpson went direct to England, and
the two last named first visited the United States, in-
tending to join Simpson in London.2 On their arrival
in Washington in December, 1842, they addressed a
note to Mr. Webster, setting forth the reasons why the
independence of the islands should be formally acknow-
ledged. They referred to the agreement entered into
with the United States through Captain Jones in 1826,
which, though never ratified by the United States, had
1 For. Rel. 1894, App. ii. 9, 36 ; Jarves, 320 ; Hopkins, 245 ; Bingham,
536.
2 Sir G. Simpson's Journey, 171 ; Bingham, 586.
122 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
been faithfully observed by Hawaii ; they described in
some detail the extent of the American trade ; and an-
nounced their readiness to enter into treaty negotia-
tion s, for which they possessed full powers.
Mr. Webster promptly replied to their note, making
just acknowledgment for the protection extended to the
trade of the United States and the hospitality to its
citizens ; and proceeded to state the views of the Presi-
dent, in terms highly gratifying to the commission.
This was followed the same month by a special message
of the President to Congress, carefully drafted by Sec-
retary Webster.
Its importance to the islands and the future interests
of the United States justifies the following extract : —
" Just emerging from a state of barbarism, the govern-
ment of the Sandwich Islands is as yet feeble ; but its
dispositions appear to be just and pacific, and it seems
anxious to improve the condition of its people, by the
introduction of knowledge, of religious and moral insti-
tutions, means of education, and the arts of civilized
life.
"It cannot but be in conformity with the interest
and wishes of the government and the people of the
United States, that this community, thus existing in the
midst of a vast expanse of ocean, should be respected,
and all its rights strictly and conscientiously regarded.
And this must also be the true interest of all other
commercial states. Far remote from the dominions of
European powers, its growth and prosperity as an inde-
pendent state may yet be in a high degree useful to all
whose trade is extended to those regions ; while its
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 123
nearer approach to this continent, and the intercourse
which American vessels have with it, — such vessels con-
stituting five sixths of all which annually visit it, —
could not but create dissatisfaction on the part of the
United States at any attempt, by another power, should
such attempt be threatened or feared, to take possession
of the islands and colonize them, and subvert the native
government. Considering, therefore, that the United
States possesses so very large a share of the intercourse
with those islands, it is indeed not unfit to make the
declaration that their government seeks nevertheless no
peculiar advantages, no exclusive control over the Ha-
waiian government, but is content with its independent
existence, and anxiously wishes for its security and pros-
perity. Its forbearance in this respect, under the cir-
cumstances of the very large intercourse of its citizens
with the islands, would justify this government, should
events hereafter arise to require it, in making a decided
remonstrance against the adoption of an opposite policy
by any other power." *
This positive declaration of the interest and purpose
of the government of the United States had the desired
effect in Europe. Mr. Richards and Haalilio met Sir
George Simpson in London, and without much difficulty
brought the British government to an agreement to
recognize the independence of Hawaii. More difficulty
was encountered at Paris, but after due explanations as
to the policy of the island government respecting the
Catholic religion, the French government consented to
1 H. Ex. Doc. No. 35, 27th Cong. 3d Sess. ; also For. Rel. 1894, App.
ii. 39.
124 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the recognition. England and France united in a de-
claration that they "engage, reciprocally, to consider
the Sandwich Islands as an independent state, and never
to take possession, either directly or under the title of
protectorate, or under any other form, of any part of
the territory of which they are composed." The gov-
ernment of the United States was invited to join in
this declaration but declined under its general policy of
avoiding complications with European powers.1
While these negotiations were having such a satis-
factory conclusion, the fourth attempt at the overthrow
of the island government was being made at Honolulu.
The British consul, Mr. Charlton, who had been in con-
troversy over certain claims which he was urging upon
the government, left Honolulu without notice and laid
his grievances before the commander of the nearest Brit-
ish vessel. Her Majesty's ship Carysfort, Lord George
Paulet commanding, made her appearance in the har-
bor of Honolulu in February, 1843. Finding the king
absent, Lord Paulet informed the governor of Oahu
that he had come to ask reparation for certain insults
offered to her Majesty's representatives and for injuries
to her subjects, and requested that the king be immedi-
ately notified to return. On his arrival an unsatisfac-
tory correspondence ensued, which ended in a written
demand being made upon the king for his immediate
compliance with a series of stipulations, unjust in their
nature and entirely subversive of his authority.
In view of the threatening attitude of the British
commander and of the inability of the king to accede
1 Bingham, 606 ; For. Rel. 1894, App. ii. 64, 105. r
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 125
to the stipulations, the latter, upon advice of his coun-
cil, determined to cede temporarily the possession of the
islands to the British commander, and appeal to the
queen of Great Britain for the restoration of his rights.
Thereupon Lord Paulet accepted the cession, took
charge of the government under a commission nomi-
nated by himself, pulled down the Hawaiian flag and
raised the British standard in its place over the forts
and public buildings, and organized a native regiment,
called the " Queen's Own," officered by British subjects
and paid out of the Hawaiian treasury, but required to
take an oath of allegiance to the queen.
The king sent letters to the queen of Great Britain
and the President of the United States, appealing to
them to restore him to his throne, and issued the fol-
lowing pathetic proclamation : " Where are you, chiefs,
people, and commons from my ancestor, and people
from foreign lands ? Hear ye ! I make known to you
that I am in perplexity by reason of difficulties into
which I have been brought without cause ; therefore I
have given away the life of our land, hear ye ! But
my rule over you, my people, and your privileges will
continue, for I have hope that the life of the land will
be restored when my conduct shall be justified."
The British occupation took place February 25,
1843, and early in July, Commodore Kearny, in com-
mand of the United States ship Constellation, anchored
at Honolulu, en route to the United States from Can-
ton, China, where he had rendered valuable service to his
country. As soon as he had informed himself of the
situation, he sent a vigorous protest to the authorities
126 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
against the cession, and every act and measure con-
nected with it, and held them responsible for all inju-
ries that might result therefrom to American citizens or
. their interests. Meanwhile the commander of the Brit-
ish naval forces in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas, having
received intelligence of Paulet's action, reached the
islands on July 26, and immediately upon becoming
possessed of the facts, disavowed the act, and proceeded
to make restoration. In order that the disavowal should
be as public as possible, he arranged for a large mili-
tary display, took the king with him in a carriage to
the public square, and in the presence of the people
restored him to power, supplanted the British with the
Hawaiian flag, and caused it to be saluted by all the
forts and vessels in the harbor.
• For this act of justice so cordially rendered, Admiral
Thomas has been held in high esteem by the Hawaiian
! people. As soon as the intelligence reached the British
government, the act of annexation was publicly disa-
vowed, and the British minister in Washington made
the fact known to the Secretary of State in the most
emphatic terms. On the return of the Hawaiian com-
missioners from Europe to the United States, on their
way to the islands, they found that Congress had au-
thorized the appointment of a diplomatic agent, that he
' had already repaired to his post, and had been received
by Kamehameha III. Thus did it seem as if the Ha-
waiian government was at last established upon a stable
basis, with the recognition and support of the great
maritime powers of the world.1
1 For. Rel. 1894, App. ii. 9, 45-60 ; Bingham, 592 ; Hopkins, chaps,
xviii. and xix.
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 127
But there were trials yet in store for the young and
feeble member of the family of nations. The treaty
which the French naval commander had forced upon
the king in 1839, at the cannon's mouth, contained two
objectionable clauses — the first, that no Frenchman
should be tried on a criminal charge except by a jury
of foreigners proposed by the French consul ; and the
second, that all French goods should be admitted at a
duty of not more than 5 per cent. The British gov-
ernment having made demand in 1844 for like terms,
the Hawaiian king was forced to grant them. It was
most unfortunate that these two treaties, obtained by
constraint, should be made the occasion of a serious
disagreement with the diplomatic representative of the
United States, whose coming had been hailed with so
much satisfaction. A case of rape on the part of an
American citizen arose, and Mr. Brown, the United
States commissioner (diplomatic representative), inter-
vened, and, under the terms of the treaty with France
and Great Britain, claimed the right to demand a
trial by a foreign jury, but the Hawaiian authorities
proceeded without granting his demand. They were
clearly in the wrong, and although justifying them-
selves on technical grounds, their action was undoubt-
edly provoked by Mr. Brown's domineering and insult-
ing conduct. He was sustained by the Secretary of
State, but at the request of the Hawaiian government
he was recalled and a new commissioner appointed.1
This incident directed attention to the unsatisfac-
tory state of the treaty relations with foreign powers.
While both England and France had recognized the
i For. Rel. 1894, App. ii. 11, 38, 65, 66.
128 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
independence of the government, their treaties placed
it in a dependent or restrained position relative to judi-
cial procedure, the tariff, and the temperance laws. No
treaty had been made with the United States since the
unratified agreement of 1826, which was still recognized
as binding by the island government, but it was very
imperfect in its provisions. The Secretary of State,
therefore, addressed himself to the task of making a
treaty which would in all respects place Hawaii on an
equal footing with all other Christian powers. Author-
ity was conferred upon the new commissioner of the
United States, Mr. Ten Eyck, to negotiate, and a
lengthy correspondence ensued with the Hawaiian for-
eign office, but as the American plenipotentiary insisted
upon clauses similar to the objectionable ones in the
British and French treaties, no agreement was reached.
Meanwhile Mr. Ten Eyck, having become unaccepta-
ble to both his own government and that of Hawaii,
was recalled, and the negotiations transferred to Wash-
ington, where a treaty was signed December 20, 1849,
between Secretary Clayton and John J. Jarves, special
commissioner of Hawaii. This treaty was free from the
objectionable clauses referred to, and was similar in its
provisions to those negotiated by the United States with
other Christian nations. It remained in force during all
the subsequent existence of the Hawaiian government,
and its terms were ultimately accepted by Great Britain
and France. Thus for a second time was the United
States successful in its support of the claims of this
new nation to complete autonomy.1
i For. Rel. 1894, App. ii. 12, 13, 69, 79.
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 129
While the negotiations were progressing at Wash-
ington, fresh troubles with France had arisen at the
islands. A new consul had arrived in 1848, and he
soon became involved in quarrels with the native offi-
cials. Having communicated his grievances to his
home government, on August 12, 1849, two French
men-of-war arrived at Honolulu, under command of
Admiral De Tromelin, to support the demands of the
consul. On the 22d the admiral sent to the king a
peremptory demand embracing ten demands, the most
important of which was that the duties on French
brandy, which it was alleged were prohibitory, should
be reduced one half, and that the French language
should be used in official intercourse ; the others being
of a petty character. The demand was accompanied
by a notice that a reply was expected within three
days, and if it was not satisfactory, the admiral would
" employ the force at his disposal to obtain a complete
reparation."
The answer did not prove satisfactory, and on the
25th of August an armed force was landed from the
war vessels, with field-pieces, scaling-ladders, etc. Pos-
session was taken of the forts and government build-
ing, and of all Hawaiian vessels. The forts were dis-
mantled, the guns spiked, the ammunition thrown into
the sea, and the king's yacht confiscated. These " re-
prisals " having been taken, the troops were withdrawn
on the 28th, the consul and his family went on board,
and the French squadron sailed away.
This outrage led to the dispatch of a special commis-
sioner to France, Dr. Judd, accompanied by two native
130 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
princes, the heir apparent and his brother. The com-
mission spent ten weeks in Paris seeking to negotiate
a treaty, but without success. In London the basis of
a new and equitable treaty was agreed upon with Great
Britain, similar to the one signed with $he United
States. Returning by way of Washington, they soli-
cited the United States to join with England and France
in a tripartite convention respecting Hawaii, which was
again declined ; but the government agreed to use its
good offices with France for a settlement of existing
difficulties. Its attempts in that direction led to ani-
mated conferences between the American minister in
Paris and the minister for foreign affairs, in which
the French government was given to understand that
the United States, owing to its paramount interest in
those islands, would allow no forcible occupation of
them by any foreign power.
The French government, being still apparently bent
upon forcing its demands, sent out a special commis-
sioner, Mr. Perrin, who arrived at Honolulu in a war
vessel in December, 1850. He presented anew the
former demand with its ten articles, and entered upon
a voluminous and irritating correspondence which con-
tinued through three months. The king, perplexed by
these persistent demands and threats of violence, with
the advice of his privy council, signed a proclamation
in due form, in which he declared that, " despairing of
equity and justice from France, we hereby proclaim as
our royal will and pleasure that all our islands, and all
our rights as sovereign over them, are from the date
hereof placed under the protection and safeguard of
INDEPENDENT HAWAII 131
the United States of America/' until a satisfactory
adjustment could be made with France, " or, if such
arrangements be found impracticable, then it is our
wish and pleasure that the protection aforesaid under
the United States of America be perpetual." This
proclamation was signed March 10, 1851, and was
delivered sealed to the American commissioner, on con-
dition that if hostilities were begun by the French it
was to be opened and carried into effect ; but other-
wise to be held to be void.
This provisional cession and the troubles which
brought it about were reported to the Department of
State by the commissioner, Mr. Severance, and Secre-
tary Webster informed him, in reply, that while it was
the purpose of the United States to observe scrupu-
lously the independence of the Hawaiian Islands, it
could never consent to see them taken possession of by
either of the great commercial powers of Europe, nor
could it consent that demands, manifestly unjust and
derogatory and inconsistent with a bona fide inde-
pendence, should be enforced against that government.
Respecting the cession of the sovereignty to the United
States, he reminded the commissioner that it was a sub-
ject above any functions with which he was charged,
that he should forbear to express an opinion upon it,
as the government at Washington alone could decide
it, and that he must return to the Hawaiian govern-
ment the document placed in his hands.
The French controversy happily did not reach the
acute form of hostilities, and was finally adjusted by an
agreement assuring the Catholic clergy of full liberty
132 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
of worship and the regulation of their schools (one of
the points embraced in the ten demands), and securing
the desired reduction in the duty on French spirits. It
is due also to France to state that after the treaty of
1846 had been signed, the $20,000 which had been
exacted as a guaranty in 1839 were returned, and
delivered at Honolulu in the original cases and with
the seals unbroken.1
The appearance of the French man-of-war in 1850,
with the belligerent consul, was the last attempt of
foreign aggression threatening the sovereignty of the
islands. Twice had the British raised their flag, once
the Russian, and twice the French, but the little king-
dom had outlived the designs of these powerful states.
It seemed now left, with the good-will of all the
nations, to work out its own career. It provided itself
with a new constitution in 1852, in which greater
representation and power were given to the people.
Religious liberty was guaranteed. Society and the
industries were feeling more and more the influence of
commerce and contact with the outside world. The
government had the trials incident to all countries and
some peculiarly of native origin. We shall see in a
subsequent chapter how those elements worked together
for its ultimate destiny.
1 For. Rel. 1894, App. ii. 13, 70-78, 86-104 ; Alexander's Hist. 261,
264, 270.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN
The march of events in the first half of the nine-
teenth century made it clear that Japan could not long
continue the policy of seclusion which it had success-
fully maintained for two centuries. That policy had,
however, served a useful purpose both for Japan and
China. We have seen that it had been adopted be-
cause of the arrogant and aggressive conduct of the
European nations in their early intercourse. Following
the maritime discoveries of the fifteenth century, the
commercial nations had shown an utter disregard of
the proprietary rights of the people of the East. Great
Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and Kussia
had at their pleasure appropriated large areas of terri-
tory both on the continent of Asia and the islands of
the Pacific.
The remoteness of China and Japan from Europe
made them the last prey of the spoilers. The obser-
vant traveler and savant Humboldt, in visiting the
Isthmus of Panama a hundred years ago, impressed
with its geographic influence, wrote : " This neck of
land, the barrier against the waves of the Atlantic
Ocean, has been for many ages the bulwark of the
independence of China and Japan." 1 But in addition
1 Humboldt's Political Essays on the Kingdom of New Spain, book i.
chap. ii.
134 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
to their distance from Europe, the early resolution of
these nations to exclude all foreigners from a lodg-
ment on their territory and from all but the least possi-
ble intercourse, operated favorably for the preserva-
tion of their autonomy. During the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries the principles of international law
were undergoing a formative process, and little respect
was paid to the rights of nations which could not be
enforced by the sword. In the nineteenth century a
higher regard was beginning to be shown towards
weaker nations, and these two empires could then with
greater safety to their independence permit foreign
intercourse.
The opening of Japan was a natural sequence of
the partial unlocking of the doors of China by British
arms. England, France, and Russia were the European
nations most interested in bringing about that result.
But the development of commerce in the Pacific, as the
middle of the century approached, pointed unmistak-
ably to the young republic of North America as the
power destined to bring about that important event.
The English historian Creasy, in tracing the rapid
growth of the United States and its recent great
development on the Pacific coast, writing in 1851, pre-
dicted the forcible opening of Japan by this govern-
ment, and, misinterpreting its spirit, which he charac-
terized as " bold, intrusive, and unscrupulous," he
added : " America will scarcely imitate the forbearance
shown by England at the end of our late war with the
Celestial Empire." He looked forward to changes of
great magnitude in the Orient to be brought about
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 135
through the influence of the United States, and recalled
the words of De Tocqueville that the growing power
of this commonwealth was a new factor in the world,
the significance of which even the imagination could
not grasp.
About the same time another diviner was forecast-
ing the horoscope of the young nation. William H.
Seward, then a senator in the Congress of the United
States, was urging upon that body the imperative neces-
sity, in the interest of American commerce, of more
accurate surveys of the North Pacific Ocean. In a
speech which was notable for its wide research, its elo-
quence, and its breadth of statesmanship, he referred
to the great future which he saw was to be realized in
the commercial intercourse of the United States through
its newly acquired possessions on the Pacific slope, the
Hawaiian Islands, and the certain opening of Japan
and China. He stated that the relations with Europe,
which were then so extensive and constantly increasing,
would in time diminish and lose their importance, and
that the great development of the republic was to be
on the other side of the continent ; and he thereupon
uttered this famous prediction : " The Pacific Ocean, its
shores, its islands, and the vast regions beyond, will
become the chief theatre of events in the world's great
Hereafter." Commerce, under the benign influence of
peace, was to bring about this great transformation,
when " the better passions of mankind will soon have
their development in the new theatre of human ac-
tivity." *
1 The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, by E. S. Creasy, New
136 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
During the first half of the century the governments
of Great Britain, Russia, and France had made efforts,
through the visits of their naval vessels, to communi-
cate with the central government of Japan, and to
secure some relaxation of its strict policy of seclusion,
but all these attempts had proved futile. As the ulti-
mate success was due to the efforts of the United
States, it will be well to refer to them in some detail.
The first American vessel to visit Japan was the Eliza,
Captain Stewart, in 1797. Holland being at that time
at war with Great Britain, the Eliza was chartered by
the Dutch East India Company to make the annual
visit allowed by the Japanese regulations to the factory
on the island of Deshima, in the harbor of Nagasaki.
Her arrival was a matter of great perplexity to the Jap-
anese — a vessel in the employ of the Dutch, carrying
an unknown flag, with a crew speaking English, but
belonging to a new country which had another king
or ruler than the English. After lengthy explanations
and considerable delay she was admitted to the harbor
and her cargo discharged. During the continuance of
the war other American vessels visited Nagasaki under
similar charters. A few years later Captain Stewart
appeared at Nagasaki, with a cargo on his own account,
and sought to open trade, but his request was refused
and he was sent away.1
No further serious attempt was made by Americans
York, 1851, p. 255 ; 24 Congressional Globe, part 2, p. 1973, 32d Cong.
1st Sess.
1 11 Chinese Repository, 161; Nitobe's Intercourse between the United
States and Japan, 31.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 137
at intercourse with the Japanese till 1837, when an ex-
pedition was organized at Macao, China, having a three-
fold aspect — humanity, religion, and commerce. The
strong currents about the coasts of Japan and adverse
winds not infrequently carried the natives in their small
vessels out upon the ocean and sometimes as far as the
American continent. This fact gives color to the clain^
sometimes advanced that the civilization of the Mexican"
Indians had its origin in Japan. A party of seven
shipwrecked Japanese had been picked up on the coast
of British Columbia, and sent by the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany across the American continent and the Atlantic
Ocean to London, and by the British East India Com-
pany brought to Macao, to be forwarded, if opportunity
offered, to their native land. One of the leading Ameri-
can mercantile firms engaged in the Canton trade, Oly-
phant & Co.,1 conceived the idea that the event might
be taken advantage of to induce the Japanese govern-
ment to relax its rules as to foreign intercourse, and
they fitted out the Morrison, a vessel named after the
first English missionary to China, to carry back the
shipwrecked Japanese. In the party were the German
missionary, Chinese scholar, and historian, Dr. Gutzlaff,
1 To Mr. D. W. C. Olyphant, of New York, the founder of this house,
which for many years occupied a prominent and honorable part in the
China trade, American missions to that country owed their origin. Upon
his invitation the first Protestant missionary, Robert Morrison, of Eng-
land, was brought to China. His firm furnished the Canton mission
a house, rent free for many years, gave more than fifty free passages
to missionaries from the United States, and in other ways contributed
largely to their work. The Chinese Repository was mainly indebted to
this firm for its support. In all respects its members reflected honor
upon their country.
138 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the American medical missionary, Dr. Peter Parker,
and Rev. S. Wells Williams, the last two being repre-
sentatives of the American Board of Missions. With
them also went Mr. King, a member of the firm, and
his wife.
To divest the expedition of every appearance of a
hostile character, the armament of cannon and small
arms invariably carried by trading vessels of that period
was removed. Quite an attractive collection of presents
for the authorities was taken — a globe, a telescope, a
barometer, a set of American coins, American books of
science, history, etc., and a painting of Washington.
Memorials or papers were prepared in the Chinese lan-
guage, setting forth as the object of the expedition the
return of the shipwrecked Japanese and the delivery of
the presents. They announced that they had on board
a physician, with medicines and instruments, prepared to
cure the sick gratuitously, and they also asked the priv-
ilege of staying long enough to explain the meaning of
the books which they brought. Their memorials further
gave some account of the history and resources of the
United States and stated that its policy was to estab-
lish peaceful commerce and that it was opposed to col-
onies. The narrative adds that the vessel also contained
a small stock of goods, in order to be prepared " to
take advantage of any opening " that might offer.
In place of proceeding to Nagasaki, which was well
known to be the only port at which foreign intercourse
was allowed, the vessel sailed direct to the Bay of Yedo,
on which the capital was located. On entering the bay
she was immediately surrounded by a large number of
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 139
armed boats, and hardly had she dropped anchor, be-
fore a fire was opened upon her from the cannon of the
forts. To save themselves and the vessel from destruc-
tion, the only course seemed to be a speedy departure.
Accordingly they weighed anchor and put to sea, pur-
sued by boats, from which small cannon were fired.
Several attempts to land along the coast were repulsed,
and the course of the vessel was directed to the port
of Kagoshima, the seat of government of the powerful
prince of Satsuma. Here a hostile reception similar to
that in the Bay of Yedo was extended to them, and
nothing remained for them to do but to return to
Macao, which they did without having even set foot
on shore.1
The second attempt of an American vessel to hold
intercourse was only a little less successful. The Man-
hattan, of Sag Harbor, Captain Cooper, in 1845, while
sailing through Japanese seas, found on a small barren
island eleven shipwrecked Japanese, and soon after-
wards he rescued from a disabled junk eleven more.
The captain decided to take them to the Bay of Yedo
and deliver them to the authorities, his object being
" to impress the government with the civilization of the
United States and its friendly disposition towards the
emperor and the Japanese people." He touched on
the coast of the island of Niphon, and had messengers
dispatched to the emperor to inform him of his coming
and the object of his visit. On his arrival in the bay
he was kindly received and allowed to anchor within a
1 Narrative of a Voyage of the Ship Morrison, by S. Wells Williams,
1837 ; 6 Chinese Repository, 209, 353.
140 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
furlong of the city of Yedo. The ship was surrounded
by three cordons of boats, one hundred feet apart, to
the number of nearly one thousand, and officers were
kept constantly on the ship, by whom the captain was
told that none of the crew would be allowed to land, and
that if any of them attempted it they would be killed.
The vessel was permitted to remain for four days,
during which time the shipwrecked Japanese were put
ashore, and the ship supplied with fresh provisions and
water. The governor of Yedo told the captain that
"the only reason he was allowed to remain in the
waters of Japan was because the emperor felt assured
that he could not be a bad-hearted foreigner by his
having come so far out of his way to bring poor people
to their native country, who were wholly strangers to
him." When the captain suggested that he might find
other shipwrecked mariners and would bring them back,
the governor said, " Carry them to some Dutch port,
but never come to Japan again;" and added that the
emperor would prefer to have them abandoned than
that strangers should visit his dominions.1
The government of the United States was on the
alert to second the efforts of private American enter-
prise whenever opportunity should offer. When, in
1832, Mr. Roberts was dispatched to negotiate treaties
with Siam and Muscat, he was furnished with letters of
credence to the emperor of Japan also, and was in-
structed, if he found " the prospect favorable," to visit
that empire and seek to establish official relations. But
the situation at that time did not encourage the attempt.
1 Honolulu Friend, February 2, 1846.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 141
When he departed from Washington on his second
visit to the Orient in 1835, to exchange the ratifications
of his treaties with Muscat and Siam, he was furnished
with a letter from President Jackson to the emperor of
Japan in the Dutch and Latin languages, and he was
instructed by the Secretary of State to proceed to Japan
as soon as his duties were discharged in the two former
countries and seek to open negotiations. His instruc-
tions stated that, " as the Dutch have their factory at
Nagasaki and might feel themselves interested in thwart-
ing your mission, it is recommended that, if permitted,
you should enter some other port nearer to the seat of
government."
Mr. Roberts carried with him for Japan a consider-
able collection of presents, among which were a repeat-
ing gold watch with a heavy gold chain eight feet long,
a sabre, rifle, shot-gun and pair of pistols, an assort-
ment of broadcloth, cut glass, a musical box, maps, a
set of United States coins, prints of United States naval
victories, and ten Merino sheep of the finest wool, two
bucks and eight ewes. He was in addition authorized,
in case of effecting a treaty, to promise presents to the
value of $10,000. Owing to his untimely death at
Macao in 1836, the negotiations contemplated were
never attempted, and the squadron which bore him to
the East returned to the United States without touch-
ing at any Japanese port.1
In this connection it may be mentioned that in 1849
1 For instructions of 1832, S. Ex. Doc. 59, p. 63, 32d Cong. 1st Sess.
For instructions of 1835, Book of Instructions, Special Missions, Dept. of
State.
142 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the American consul at Singapore, Mr. J. Balestier, was
authorized to negotiate a commercial treaty with the
sultan of Borneo. He sailed from Canton in April,
1850, in the United States naval vessel Plymouth, ac-
companied by Rev. Mr. Dean, an American missionary
" well versed in the Chinese and Siamese languages," as
secretary and interpreter. After touching at ports of
Annam and Siam to execute commissions of his govern-
ment, he succeeded without much difficulty in making
a treaty with the sultan of Borneo authorizing com-
mercial intercourse with that island.1
In 1845 Mr. Pratt, a member of Congress from New
York, introduced a resolution in the House, recommend-
ing that immediate measures be taken for effecting com-
mercial arrangements with Japan and Korea. The
resolution was accompanied by a memorandum giving
various reasons for its adoption, among which were the
following, — that the failure of other nations is no rea-
son why we should not make " a vigorous effort now,"
and that " the day and the hour have now arrived for
turning the enterprise of our merchants and seamen
into the harbors and markets of those long secluded
countries."2 The introduction of this resolution was
followed within three months by an instruction to the
commander of the naval squadron on the East India
station. He was informed that Mr. Everett, our diplo-
matic representative in China, possessed letters of cre-
dence to Japan, and the commander was instructed " to
ascertain if the ports of Japan are accessible;" that if
1 S. Ex. Doc. 38, 32d Cong. 1st Sess.
2 H. Doc. 138, 28th Cong. 2d Sess.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 143
Mr. Everett was inclined to make the attempt to gain
access thereto, he was to hold his squadron at his dis-
position for that purpose ; and should Mr. Everett de-
cline, he himself might, if he saw fit, persevere in the
design.
Under these instructions Mr. Everett transferred his
letter of credence to Commodore Biddle, who sailed
from Macao with two naval vessels, and anchored in
the Bay of Yedo, July 20, 1846. He was at once sur-
rounded by a cordon composed of a great multitude
of boats, and was waited upon by a Japanese official
to inquire the object of his coming. The commodore
stated that it was to ascertain whether Japan had
opened her ports and was disposed to make a treaty
with the United States. He was asked to reduce this
to writing, which was done, and the officer said that
within a few days an answer would be received from the
emperor, and that in the meanwhile none of the crew
would be permitted to land. On the 27th an answer
was delivered by the Japanese officer, in which it was
stated that foreigners could only be received at Naga-
saki, that no treaty with the United States would be
made, and that the vessels must depart as quickly as
possible and not come back any more to Japan. The
commodore received a blow or a push from a Japanese
soldier during the delivery of the letter, for which apo-
logy was made by the Japanese officials and an assur-
ance given that the soldier should be punished, but the
incident greatly injured the prestige of the Americans
in the estimation of the Japanese people.
The squadron sailed away, and Mr. Everett reported
144 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
to the Secretary of State that the document which was
handed to Commodore Biddle as the reply of the em-
peror had been prepared with an evidently studied and
intentional disregard of the rules of courtesy that are
usually observed in the written intercourse of nations ;
that it was addressed to no one, and was without signa-
ture or date ; and that he considered it as an additional
proof of the extreme reluctance of the Japanese to enter
into commercial relations with foreigners. He further
reported that Commodore Biddle did not seem to have
opened the negotiations with discretion, and that he had
placed the subject in a rather less favorable position
than that in which it stood before.
Dr. Parker, in charge of the legation at Canton,
transmitted to the Secretary of State in 1848 an account
of the imprisonment and harsh treatment by the Japanese
of the surviving members of the crew of the American
whaler Lawrence, wrecked on the Japanese coast, and
added that from previous instructions it was evident
that the President was fully impressed with the expedi-
ency of negotiating a treaty with Japan to secure at
least " humane treatment " to shipwrecked American
sailors. This was followed the same year by informa-
tion received at Canton through the Dutch consul that
fifteen American sailors from another whaling vessel —
the Lagoda — were held as prisoners by the Japanese.
This led the commander of the American East India
squadron to send a vessel to Japan to demand their
surrender. Commander Glynn, with the Preble, went to
Nagasaki in 1849, and, regardless of the rules which
required foreign vessels to anchor down the bay, sailed
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 145
up into the inner harbor, and at once put himself in
communication with the governor. After some equivo-
cation and delay the imprisoned seamen were delivered
up, and the Preble rejoined the squadron.1
The sailors both from the Lawrence and the Lagoda
made detailed statements of their treatment while held
as prisoners by the Japanese, which showed that they
had suffered great indignity and cruelty. They alleged
that they had been required to trample and spit upon
the Christian cross ; that they had been in some in-
stances shut up in narrow cages, put in stocks, exposed
to unnecessary hardships and severe weather, and that
as a consequence some of their number had died. These
accounts had much to do with the final resolution of
the government of the United States to force a treaty
upon Japan. And yet it is not certain that the Japanese
government authorized any severe or cruel treatment.
In order to carry out its policy of rigid exclusion of
foreigners, it caused all who were found on its coasts
to be arrested and held as prisoners. The orders were
to send them to Nagasaki, from which port they were
taken out of the country by Dutch vessels as soon as
opportunity occurred. If indignity or cruelty was in-
flicted, it was caused rather by the zeal of subordinates
than by order of the government.
About the year 1850 all the waters around Japan
were swarming with American whalers in quest of their
prey. Not less than eighty-six such vessels were counted
by a Japanese observer that year as passing a single
point. It was felt by them to be a great hardship that
1 S. Ex. Doc. 59, cited, 64-69; lb. 3-44, 69-73.
146 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
they could not resort to Japanese harbors in distress or
for water and supplies. It was a still greater cause of
complaint that the shipwrecked sailors were inhospitably
and cruelly treated. Their complaints were being heard
at Washington. Added to this, the commercial demands
were becoming urgent. The discovery of gold in Cali-
fornia and the sudden development of the Pacific coast
possessions led to a projected steamship line to China
from San Francisco. To this end ports of deposit for
coal and other supplies in Japan were felt to be a neces-
sity. Hence the growing conviction had crystallized
into a resolution on the part of the government that
extraordinary effort must be made to force the opening
of one or more Japanese harbors and induce the empire
to adopt a more liberal policy toward foreigners.
The subject had long attracted the attention of
thoughtful people, and various suggestions had been
made with that end in view. Among others, Com-
modore Glynn, who in the Preble had secured the re-
lease of the last crew of shipwrecked sailors, and had
returned to Washington, held a conference with Presi-
dent Fillmore, and submitted to him written suggestions
for such an expedition. The subject was one in which
Mr. Webster, again Secretary of State, had taken a deep
interest. Cabinet councils were held, and it was decided
that a strong squadron should be sent to Japan, and
that in a more formal and decided manner a demand
should be made for hospitable treatment to American
sailors in distress, and for some modification of the
existing regulations as to intercourse and trade.
Commodore Aulick was selected for the important
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 147
and delicate task, and was for this purpose assigned to
the East India station. His full powers to negotiate
a treaty, his instructions signed by Mr. Webster, and
the President's letter to the emperor of Japan, bear date
of June 10, 1851, and he sailed the following month.1
When he reached China en route he received a letter
from the Secretary of the Navy ordering his recall. It
had in the interval been determined to intrust the mis-
sion to Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, — an
officer who had attained distinction in the navy, and
who had shown qualities which it was thought peculiarly
fitted him to carry to success this undertaking, of such
moment to the United States and to mankind, and one
in the accomplishment of which officers of the American
and European navies had thus far failed. Perry came
of sailor stock, his father having served in the Revolu-
tionary navy, and his brother Oliver being the hero of
the victory on Lake Erie in 1813. At the time of his
appointment to the mission he was fifty-eight years of
age.
He was given ample time to make his preparations,
and great freedom in the selection of his subordinates.
America and Europe were searched for publications
which would be of service to the expedition. The
charts used were obtained chiefly from Holland, for
which the government paid $30,000. Van Siebold's
" Archiv " was obtained at a cost of $503, and a
great variety of books on Japan were collected. The
1 S. Ex. Doc. 59, cited, 74-82. For President Fillmore's account, 3
American Historical Record, 148 ; for Aulick's appointment and recall,
lb. 294.
148 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
commodore made visits to New York, Boston, and New
Bedford to confer with captains of whaling vessels
familiar with Japanese waters and merchants interested
in the commerce of the East. Prominent manufacturers
were also visited to secure specimens of the latest im-
provements in the arts and industries. Scientists, inter-
preters, and such other persons as could promote the
objects of the expedition were secured.
Frequent interviews were held by the commodore
with the President, Secretary Webster, and the Secre-
tary of the Navy. The written instructions were care-
fully prepared by Mr. Webster, but he died before the
commodore sailed, and they bear the signature of ad
interim Secretary Conrad. The objects of the expedi-
tion were stated to be, first, protection for our ship-
wrecked sailors ; second, the opening of the ports for
the entry of vessels to refit and obtain coal ; and third,
the entry of ports for trade. The letter of President
Fillmore to the emperor of Japan was more elaborate
than the one carried by Commodore Aulick, and is
countersigned by Edward Everett, who had become
Secretary of State.1
No secret was made of the expedition. The official
instructions were published, and the preparations were
openly conducted. Both in America and Europe they
were the topic of newspaper comment and general dis-
cussion. The prevailing feeling was of good- will for
the expedition, but grave doubts were often expressed
as to its success. The good offices of the government
of Holland were solicited by Secretary Webster, to pave
1 S. Ex. Doc. 34, pp. 4-9, 33d Cong. 2d Sess.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 149
the way, through the Dutch factory at Deshima, for a
friendly reception by the Japanese court. The Dutch
government acted favorably upon the request, and di-
rected its East India authorities to send instructions to
that end, but it appears that Commodore Perry reached
Japan and concluded his mission before the instructions
were received at Deshima. It is also known that upon
the first public intimation of the expedition, the Dutch
government prepared a draft of a treaty and forwarded
it to Nagasaki, with a view to anticipate the work of
Commodore Perry, but the Japanese government refused
to consider it.
The preparations for the voyage, made with care and
deliberation, were finally concluded, and the President,
accompanied by members of his cabinet and a distin-
guished company, paid a visit to Annapolis to bid the
commodore farewell. The day before he put to sea a
dinner was given him in Washington by a large num-
ber of his friends and well-wishers, including the Secre-
tary of State and other cabinet officers, senators, mem-
bers of Congress, and prominent citizens, at which, in
response to various queries, the commodore gave some
indication of his plans and proposed operations. One
of the members of the dinner party, writing many years
after the event, said : " It was apparent that all present
were well convinced that the Commodore fully compre-
hended the difficulties and the delicate character of the
work before him." On November 24, 1852, he sailed
from Norfolk and passed the capes on his long voyage
to open the doors of the Land of the Rising Sun.1
1 S. Ex. Doc. 34, cited, 20 ; U. S. Japan Expedition, by Commodore
150 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
At Canton lie took on board Dr. S. Wells Williams
as chief interpreter, received a considerable addition to
his squadron from the East India station, and pressed
' on to Japan. Early on the morning of July 8, 1853,
the bold promontory of Idsu rising loftily through the
mist out of the sea indicated that the Bay of Yedo was
near at hand. Everything was stir and bustle on ship-
board. The commodore's report says that signals were
given to the squadron, and instantly the decks were
cleared for action, the guns placed in position and
shotted, the ammunition arranged, the small arms made
ready, sentinels and men at their posts, and, in short,
all the preparations made, usual before meeting an en-
emy. As they entered the beautiful bay, the rising sun
dispelled the mists, and revealed a charming panorama
of busy shipping and lovely landscape, with the majes-
tic snow-capped Fujiyama towering in the distance.
Moving steadily and quietly forward, with all sails
furled, the squadron kept on its way, heedless of signals
from junks and boats swarming the waters, passed the
forts, and not until well within the bay did the vessels
drop anchor off Uraga. It was the first time a steam
vessel had ever been seen in Japanese waters. The
Susquehanna, the flagship, was a new steam frigate of
the most advanced type, both in model, machinery, and
size, recently launched with much enthusiasm at the
Philadelphia navy yard. As the vessels came quietly
up the bay in the face of a strong head wind, with no
sails set, and belching forth from their funnels volumes
M. C. Perry, published by Congress, vol. i. 65, 69 ; Matthew C. Perry,
by W. E. Griffis, Boston, 1887, p. 306.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 151
of black smoke, they spread consternation among the
Japanese, who for the first time looked upon such a
spectacle, to them an omen of frightful portent. Among
the common people of that era there was sung a pop-
ular ballad, a legend of the " Black Ships " which were
to bring destruction to their nation, a stanza of which
runs as follows : —
Through a black night of cloud and rain,
The Black Ship plies her way —
An alien thing of evil mien —
Across the waters gray.
And slowly floating onward go
These Black Ships, wave-tossed to and fro.
Just as the vessels of the squadron came to anchor,
at five o'clock in the evening, two signal guns were
fired and a rocket shot up high in air from a neighbor-
ing fort. It was the signal to the inhabitants of the
capital that the expected and feared strangers had ar-
rived, of whose coming they had received an intimation
through the Dutch at Deshima. A native writer chron-
icles the effect of this signal. " The popular commo-
tion in Yedo at the news of a 6 foreign invasion ' was
beyond description. The whole city was in an uproar.
In all directions were seen mothers flying with children
in their arms, and men with mothers on their backs.
...
Kumors of an immediate action, exaggerated each time
they were communicated from mouth to mouth, added
horror to the horror-stricken. The tramp of war-
horses, the clatter of armed warriors, the noise of carts,
the parade of firemen, the incessant tolling of bells,
the shrieks of women, the cries of children, dinning
152 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
all the streets of a city of more than a million souls,
made confusion worse confounded." 1
Immediately after the ships anchored they were sur-
rounded by numerous boats, and many of their inmates
attempted to get on board, but, in accordance with pre-
vious instructions, they were not allowed. One of the
most conspicuous of the boats, in which was apparently
a person of distinction, was permitted alongside the
flagship. Its occupant proved to be the vice-governor
of Uraga, who asked to see the commander of the
squadron. He was told the commander would confer
with no one except a functionary of the highest rank.
This was in line with the course which Perry had marked
out for himself, to wit, to demand as a right, not solicit
as a favor, those acts of courtesy due from one civilized
nation to another ; to disregard the acts and threats of
the authorities, if in the least respect in conflict with
the dignity of the American flag ; to practice a little
of Japanese diplomacy by allowing no one on board
the ships except officers having business, and they only
on the flagship ; and by personally conferring with no
one except an official of the highest rank in the empire.
Hence the vice-governor was received by the commo-
dore's aide. His mission was to inquire the object of
the visit, and to say that business with foreigners could
be transacted only at Nagasaki, and that the ships must
go there. It was explained that the squadron had come
on a friendly mission to Japan, with a letter from the
President of the United States to the emperor ; that the
1 Perry's Expedition, 231, 232 ; Nitobe's Intercourse U. S. and Japan,
1,46.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 153
commander desired to have an interview with a digni-
tary of the highest rank to arrange for the delivery of
the letter ; that he expected it to be received where he
then was ; and that he would not go to Nagasaki, hut
would remain at Uraga because it was near the capital.
In the interview the vice-governor was told that the
commander would suffer no indignity to be offered the
squadron during its stay, and that if the guard boats
which were collecting about the ships were not sent
away, they would be dispersed by force. The vice-
governor at once went to the gangway and gave an
order, with the result that the guard boats disappeared,
and nothing more was seen of them while the vessels
remained. He soon took leave, saying that an officer
of higher rank would come from the city the next day.
On the following morning the governor of Uraga
came on board. Again the commodore declined to
receive him in person, but designated two of his com-
manders to meet him. A long interview took place, in
which the governor made the same declarations as to
Nagasaki and the departure of the squadron as had
been communicated the day before, and was met by the
same answer, only in more decisive language. Finally
he was told that if the Japanese government did not
appoint a suitable person to receive the documents
addressed to the emperor, the commodore himself would
have to go on shore with a sufficient force to deliver
them in person. He was also shown the President's
letter and the commodore's credentials " encased in
magnificent boxes which had been prepared at Wash-
ington, the exquisite workmanship and costliness of
154 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
which evidently surprised his excellency." He then
said that he would return to the city, and that within
four days an answer might be expected from the court
of Yedo.
On the morning of that day a party from each ship
was set to work to make a survey of the harbor. The
governor inquired what these boats were doing, and, on
being informed, replied that it was against the Japanese
law to allow such examinations. The answer given
him was that the American laws commanded such sur-
veys and that the surveying parties were as much bound
to obey the American laws as the governor was to obey
the Japanese laws. No further objection was made,
and the surveys continued from day to day.
The commodore reports that " the following day, the
10th, was Sunday, and no communication was had with
the Japanese authorities.' ' Keligious services were held,
according to the commodore's invariable custom, and
all requests for admission to the ship were declined. On
Monday a surveying party, convoyed by one of the
steamers, moved farther up the bay, much nearer to
Yedo. The commodore intimated that such a move-
ment might hurry the answer from the court. This
action brought the governor again on board to ask its
object, and he was told that if the President's letter was
not received during the present visit it would be neces-
sary to return the next spring with a much larger fleet,
and the surveying boat was seeking for a better anchor-
age nearer the city. The governor then went away,
promising to return on the day fixed for the answer
from the court.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 155
On the 12th of July the governor came on board,
and stated that it had been arranged that a high officer
would be nominated to receive the President's letter,
and a building was being erected on shore for the place
of reception, but he added that no reply to the letter
could be given at that place, but one would be trans-
mitted to Nagasaki, through the Dutch or Chinese
superintendents. As soon as this answer was made
known to Perry, he wrote the following memoran-
dum : — •*-
" The commander-in-chief will not go to Nagasaki,
and will receive no communication through the Dutch
or Chinese.
" He has a letter from the President of the United
States to deliver to the emperor of Japan or to his
secretary of foreign affairs, and he will deliver the ori-
ginal to none other ; if this friendly letter of the Presi-
dent to the emperor is not received and duly replied to,
he shall consider his country insulted, and will not hold
himself accountable for the consequences.
" He expects a reply of some sort in a few days, and
he will receive such reply nowhere but in this neighbor-
hood."
After being translated into Dutch the memorandum
was handed to the governor, and he departed. In the
afternoon he returned to the ship, and said that a very
distinguished personage, properly accredited by the em-
peror, would be appointed to receive the commander on
shore the day after the morrow. The day following he
came to the flagship with the credentials of the pleni-
potentiary and a certificate from the court that he was
/
156 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
" of very high rank, equal to that of the lord admiral."
It was arranged that the ceremony of reception of the
President's letter should occur the following forenoon.
On the morning of July 14, the squadron took
position in front of the place fixed for the meeting,
within easy cannon range. The governor of Uraga,
acting as master of ceremonies, and another Japanese
official, escorted by a number of imperial boats, came
off to the flagship to accompany the commodore and
suite to the hall of reception. As the latter stepped
into his barge a salute was fired from the squadron in
his honor. This was the first time since his arrival that
he had been seen by the Japanese. His escort con-
sisted of all the officers who could be spared from the
ships and of about three hundred sailors and marines,
with two bands of music. About the landing place
and the reception hall were stationed five thousand
Japanese soldiers, infantry and cavalry. On landing
the commodore was preceded by the Japanese master of
ceremonies and one of the squadron captains, the sailors
and marines, two stalwart sailors who bore the Amer-
ican flag and the broad pennant, followed by two boys
tastefully dressed for the occasion bearing the boxes
containing the President's letter and the credentials.
Then came the commodore accompanied on either side
by a tall, well-formed, heavily armed negro as a body-
guard. The official narrative says " all this, of course,
was but for effect."
On entering the hall the two princes designated by
the emperor to receive the documents arose and sa-
luted the commodore with low bows, their names being
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 157
pronounced by the interpreters. The letters were then
brought forward by the boys, the gold boxes opened by
the two negroes, the letter and the credentials, en-
grossed on vellum, tastefully bound, with seals attached
by gold chains, were taken out and held up before the
princes, and then laid upon the lid of the scarlet lac-
quered box which the Japanese had prepared for their
reception. The governor then kneeling replaced the
documents in their cases and deposited them in the
lacquered box. All this was done in silence, not a
word being spoken.
The commodore then directed his interpreter to ex-
plain to the Japanese interpreter the character of the
documents. After this was done, the governor upon
his knees received from Prince Iwami a roll, with which
he passed over to the commodore, and again falling
upon his knees delivered it to him. It was a receipt
signed by the Japanese princes, with a statement that
no further business could be transacted at Uraga, but
at Nagasaki, and that the fleet would be expected to
depart. After a few minutes' silence, the commodore
told the interpreter to inform the Japanese that in
view of the importance of the business to be consid-
ered, he would leave in two or three days, but that he
would return to the same place the following spring
to receive the answer of the emperor. The governor
asked if the commodore would return with all his ves-
sels. " All of them," answered the commodore, " and
probably more, as these are only a portion of the
squadron." And thus closed the reception, which was
of the most formal character possible, the Japanese
158 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
princes never having spoken a word, and the whole
ceremony lasting less than half an hour.
The Americans went back to their ships, enlivened
by national airs from the bands, feeling highly gratified
at what had been accomplished. They had received
different treatment from any foreigners who had visited
Japan for two centuries. They had commanded respect
and secured intercourse, upon the basis of equality.
They held direct communication with the highest impe-
rial authorities, without the interposition of the Dutch
at Nagasaki. They disregarded or caused to be with-
drawn local regulations, which were derogatory to the
dignity of their nation. On the other hand, while
exhibiting firmness as to their rights, they showed the
utmost regard for the sovereignty and rights of the
Japanese. The crews of the vessels were not permitted
to go on shore. No native was insulted or maltreated ;
no woman was outraged ; no property was taken ; no
police regulation was violated — practices quite com-
mon on the part of the crews of other foreign ships.
The afternoon following the reception the squadron
moved ten miles farther up the bay toward Yedo, an-
chored, took soundings, and made surveys. On the
same day the commodore addressed a letter to the em-
peror, informing him of his intended departure and his
expected return in the spring. On the 17th, having
been in the bay eight days, the ships passed down as
they had entered, under steam with sails furled, and
put to sea. A momentous subject had been submitted
to the imperial government for decision, and the Ameri-
can commander withdrew his ships in order that there
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 159
should be no appearance of coercion during its discus-
sion and determination.
As soon as the Americans had departed, the court of
Yedo addressed itself to the problem before it. Copies
of the President's letter to the emperor, which set forth
the terms of the treaty desired, were sent to the daimios
and principal dignitaries of the empire, and their opin-
ions requested. At the same time warlike preparations
were set on foot. Strong forts were erected about the
bay to protect the city of Yedo. Bells from the mon-
asteries and metal articles of luxury contributed by the
wealthy families were cast into cannon. Three hundred
thousand patriot soldiers flocked to the capital to save
it from desecration by the hated foreigners. New fear
was awakened by the appearance of a Russian admiral
at Nagasaki within two months after Perry's departure,
making demand for intercourse and treaty rights. The
priests of the national religion were commanded to offer
up prayers for the sweeping away of the barbarians.1
The commodore had gone to China to recruit and
reinforce his squadron, and to look after American in-
terests in that empire imperiled by the civil war known
as the Taiping rebellion, which was threatening the
overthrow of the reigning dynasty. Our minister to
the country was very persistent in his request that the
naval force should be retained in Chinese waters, but
Perry was too much impressed with the importance of
his mission to Japan to be diverted by the civil war in
1 Perry's Expedition, chaps, xu.-xiv ; Nitobe's Intercourse, etc., 49 ;
1 Japan, its History, Traditions, and Religions, by Sir E. J. Reed, Lon-
don, 1880, p. 246.
160 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
China. Besides, he did not think it wise for the United
States to become embroiled in that contest.
Other reasons made him feel that he should hasten
his return to Japan. He had heard of the visit of the
Russian admiral to Nagasaki, and he knew that the lat-
ter's fleet was lying in the river at Shanghai. A French
squadron was also in Chinese waters, and the commander
put to sea from Macao, where Perry then was, with his
destination a mystery. The latter feared there was
danger that the fruit, the seed of which he had sown at
Yedo with so much care, might be gathered by others,
and he determined to shorten his stay in China and
take the risks of a winter passage to Japan.
Stopping on his way at the Lew Chew (Loo-Choo)
Islands, he was overtaken by a letter from the gov-
ernor of the Dutch East Indies, notifying him that the
emperor of Japan had died since his departure, and
conveying the request of the imperial government that
he would delay his return beyond the time fixed by him,
as no business could be transacted until the period of
court mourning was over. The commodore expressed
his regret at the sad intelligence, but said that he felt
sure the present rulers of Japan had become so well
satisfied of the friendly intentions of the President that
they would not be disposed to delay an understanding
between the two nations. And he continued on his
journey.1
The fleet, now more than double its size on the first
visit, and when fully assembled numbering ten vessels,
entered the Bay of Yedo February 12, 1854, some time
1 Perry's Expedition, 302, 321.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 161
in advance of the date fixed for its return. It was an
impressive sight as it moved up the bay. No such mar-
tial array had ever been seen in Japanese waters. It
was an unmistakable evidence of the earnestness of the
United States. The city of Uraga was passed, no heed
being paid to the government junks from which officials
sought to communicate, and not until they had left be-
hind them the reception place of the President's letter,
and had reached the distance of twelve miles above
Uraga, did they come to anchor.
The government boats, which had been waived aside
in the lower bay, approached with a high Japanese offi-
cial and interpreters. They were received by one of
the captains designated by the commodore, he pursuing
the policy of his last visit of holding intercourse only
with a dignitary of equal rank specially nominated by
the emperor. The official stated that the imperial orders
were that the fleet should be treated with the utmost
kindness, and that commissioners had been appointed
to negotiate with " the Admiral." He said that the
place fixed by the emperor for the conference was at
Kamakura, in the outer bay. The commodore in-
structed his representative to reply that he would not
return to the lower bay, and that if the commissioners
were not willing to treat with him opposite his present
anchorage, he would proceed with the fleet to Yedo and
ask to negotiate there.
Some time was spent in daily visits to the flagship,
discussing the place of meeting. The fact was that the
court of Yedo had decided to make the best terms pos-
sible with the foreign commander, and to comply at
162 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
least partially with the terms of the President's letter ;
and the only object of these discussions as to the lo-
cality for the negotiations was to get the fleet as far
away from the capital as possible. The commodore,
however, was firm, and it was arranged that the place
of meeting should be near the anchorage, at the site of
the present city of Yokohama.
The first conference took place March 8, but mean-
while the credentials of the chief Japanese plenipoten-
tiary had been submitted to the commodore and found
satisfactory. As on the former visit, a special house
had been erected for the conferences. On the part of
the Japanese there was no such military display as on
the occasion of the delivery of the President's letter,
only a small guard being present. But the commo-
dore, true to his purpose of impressing the Japanese
with the importance of the mission, came on shore in
much the same style as on his first landing, with a full
detail of officers and marines and to the sound of mar-
tial music and salutes in honor of the emperor, the
Japanese plenipotentiary, and himself.
It was found that to the imperial plenipotentiary
four other princes and persons of high rank had been
added to complete the commission. After the neces-
sary introductions, the reply to the President's letter
was submitted, which indicated a certain acquiescence
in its terms. The negotiations then began and were
continued at various conferences through the month.
They were quite formal in their character, but marked
by the greatest courtesy and good feeling, the Japanese
commissioners proving quite equal to their new and
untried duties.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 163
On March 11 the presents brought from the United
States for the emperor and other officials were delivered
with due ceremony. They filled several large boats,
were escorted from the ship by a number of officers, a
company of marines, and a band, and were received by
the high commissioners and their suite. In the list are
noted a great variety of firearms and swords of the latest
patterns and of fine workmanship, a quantity of books,
beautiful dressing-cases and perfumeries, many clocks,
instruments and tools, a complete telegraphic apparatus,
a small locomotive, cars, rails, and all the appliances
for a miniature railroad, lifeboats, and (not to suppress
the truth) many baskets of champagne, a great variety
and supply of liqueurs, and many barrels of whiskey.
Twelve days later the Japanese presents in return
were delivered. The commodore went ashore with a
numerous suite of officers to receive them. They filled
the large reception hall, and were in endless variety,
representing the perfection of Japanese art, exquisite
lacquer work, the most delicate embroideries, porcelain
ware most frail and perfect in workmanship, silks, satins,
crepes, pongees in great quantity and variety, fans, um-
brellas, dolls, etc. There were also fruits, rice, fish,
and three hundred chickens, but no liquors of any kind.
There were presents from the emperor to the President
of the United States, to the commodore, to the captains
of the ships, the interpreters, etc., none of those who
had taken part in the conferences being neglected.
There were presents from the commissioners, counsel-
ors of state, the governor, and the interpreters. The
Americans were fairly equaled by their Japanese friends.
164 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
While the treaty negotiations were going on the
American officers and artisans were busy in unpacking
the presents and explaining their operation. The tele-
graph wire was stretched, and offices opened at either
end, from which messages were sent in English, Japanese,
and Dutch, greatly to the amazement and curiosity of the
dignitaries and people, who daily crowded the build-
ings. A circular railway was constructed and the Lil-
liputian locomotive and train of cars were operated to
the wonder and delight of the throng of spectators.
These inventions, the steam engines of the vessels, and
the manoeuvres of the marines, deeply impressed the
Japanese with the marvelous power and genius of their
visitors.
The Japanese officers had been hospitably received
on their various visits to the ships, and had become
quite accustomed to American dishes, and were espe-
cially partial to champagne and the other liquors served
them. When the negotiations were practically com-
pleted, the commodore invited the Japanese commis-
sioners, the attendant officials, and interpreters to a
banquet on board the flagship. Great good-fellowship
prevailed, and as the wine was freely used, the toasts
became frequent on the part of some of the Japanese,
who grew quite hilarious over the peaceful termination
of the negotiations.
At last the treaty was agreed upon and ready for
signature, and the ceremony of signing took place at
the hall of conference on March 31, 1854. Commo-
dore Perry signed and delivered to the commissioners
three copies of the treaty in the English language, and
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 165
accompanied them with translations in the Chinese and
Dutch languages, certified to by his interpreters ; and
the commissioners signed three copies of the treaty in
the Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch languages, and handed
them to the commodore. Immediately after the cere-
mony the commodore presented the first commissioner
(Hayashi) with an American flag, remarking that he
considered it the highest expression of national courtesy
and friendship he could offer. The commissioner, it is
reported, seemed deeply impressed with the gift, and
returned thanks with indications of great feeling.
The signing of the treaty was followed by a dinner,
given in the hall of conference by the Japanese com-
missioners. It was served entirely in native style. It
is recorded that the feast did not make a strikingly
favorable impression on the guests ; but they were
greatly pleased with the courtesy of their hosts, whose
urbanity and assiduous attentions left nothing to desire
on the score of politeness. They departed, however,
it was confessed, with appetites but scantily gratified by
the unusual fare that had been spread before them.1
The treaty which had been agreed upon was all that
was expected by the American negotiator, the doughty
commodore, except as to the matter of commerce. The
Japanese stipulated for the protection of shipwrecked
sailors ; two ports were to be opened, in addition to
Nagasaki, where Americans might land, where vessels
might obtain supplies and purchase goods, and which
1 For narrative of events on^ second visit to Yedo and negotiation of
treaty, 1 Perry's Expedition, chaps, xviii., xix., and xx.; for official report
and documents, S. Ex. Doc. 34, cited, 116-167.
166 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
might be made depots for coal ; and consuls or govern-
ment agents were permitted to reside at Shimoda, the
open port nearest the capital. It was not possible to
secure the privilege in the open ports of unrestricted
trade. Hope was held out that it might be granted
later, but for the present the government had gone as
far as it was able in view of the national sentiment, to
meet the demands of the United States. Anticipating,
however, that other nations would soon bring like pres-
sure upon Japan for treaties, and that they might secure
some additional privileges, a provision was inserted that
the United States should enjoy all such privileges.
The commodore's anticipations were soon realized.
Six months after his treaty was signed a British ad-
miral sailed into the harbor of Nagasaki, and demanded
like treatment as the Americans, and October 14, 1854,
a treaty was signed with Great Britain similar to that
with the United States. Kussia followed January 26,
1855, Holland the same year, and other nations later.1
Commodore Perry had successfully performed his
mission. Free commerce was not yet secured, but he
had broken down the barriers of non-intercourse, and
opened the gates of the capital to the access of foreign
governments. The first important steps had been taken
by Japan, and the rest would follow in due time. In
all the negotiations the American commander exhibited
marked skill as a diplomatist. True the squadron was
a great support in the negotiations. But even with
that it was easy for him to make a fatal mistake ; yet he
1 Nitobe's Intercourse, etc. 59 ; Japan, by J. J. Rein (translation),
New York, 1884, p. 243.
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 167
made none. While he exhibited the firmness becoming a
military officer of his government, he was careful not to
wound the sensibilities of the Japanese. He fully and
frankly discussed with them all the terms of the treaty,
but at the point where further persistency was unwise
he yielded to the wishes of the Japanese negotiators.
By his skill, patience, and courtesy he achieved a
great personal triumph, and rendered an inestimable
service to his own country, to Japan, and to the world.
To his own profession he added great renown. Eng-
land, France, Holland, and the United States have pro-
duced justly celebrated naval heroes, who have added
imperishable glory to their countries, but none will
stand higher on the roll of fame or as a benefactor of
his race than the sailor diplomat, Matthew Calbraith
Perry, who achieved a signal victory without firing a
single hostile shot.
The treaty was hailed both in Europe and America as
a great triumph of Western civilization. It was promptly
and unanimously ratified by the Senate. The Secretary
of the Navy, in acknowledging to Commodore Perry
its receipt and the action of the Senate, wrote : " I
tender you my warm congratulations on the happy suc-
cess of your novel and interesting mission. You have
won additional fame for yourself, reflected new honor
upon the very honorable service to which you belong,
and we all hope have secured for your country, for
commerce, and for civilization a triumph the blessings
of which may be enjoyed by generations yet un-
born." 1 On his way home he was highly honored by
1 S. Ex. Doc. 34, cited, 180.
168 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the American residents at Canton, and after his arri-
val by his fellow-citizens in New York and other cities.
Increasing years have added to his fame and to the
recognition of his services to his country and man-
kind.
But in no part of the world has his work been so
highly appreciated as in Japan itself. When the exchange
of the ratifications of the treaty was effected in Japan
on the 21st of February, 1855, the commissioners with
whom the commodore negotiated the treaty sent him
many messages of friendship, and the assurance that
" his name would live forever in the history of Japan."
So early did the Japanese begin to realize the value to
them of his enforced negotiations, and time has con-
stantly added to this realization. The " New Japan "
dates back the beginning of its progress to " the coming
of Perry."
So strongly has that country become impressed with
its obligations to him that an association in Japan set
on foot a movement to erect a monument to his memory.
The circular, signed by the president (a member of the
imperial cabinet), setting forth the object of the move-
ment, refers to the visit of Perry as "the most mem-
orable event in our annals — an event which enabled
the country to enter upon the unprecedented era of
national ascendancy in which we are now living." The
monument was erected upon the spot where the com-
modore first landed and held his conferences with the
Japanese plenipotentiary. The money for its erection
was contributed by the Japanese people, the emperor
himself subscribing to the fund ; and the inscription
THE OPENING OF JAPAN 169
upon it, recognizing the commodore's services in appro-
priate terms, was prepared by Marquis Ito.
The dedication took place on July 14, 1901, being
the forty-eighth anniversary of the event. The govern-
ment of the United States sent a squadron to participate
in the exercises, commanded by Rear-Admiral Rodgers,
a grandson of Perry, and there was also present Rear-
Admiral Beardslee, who was a midshipman in Perry's
fleet. The Japanese government honored the occasion
with the presence of its army and navy. The president
of the association, in his dedicatory address, gave as the
reason for the location of the monument that " it was
at this spot that the modern civilization of our empire
had its beginning. . . . When Commodore Perry set
his foot on this shore the Japanese empire was en-
shrouded in the fogs of a seclusion of nearly three hun-
dred years." He proceeded to review, "the complete
and wonderful change " which the nation had made, and
for which it was mainly under obligations to the United
States. " This monument," he said, " is erected to pre-
serve on stone our determination never to forget the
friendship of the United States that sent Commodore
Perry to induce us in a peaceful way to have intercourse
with foreign powers." The prime minister of the em-
pire also delivered an address of similar purport, in
which he said : " It gives me boundless joy to partici-
pate in this grand celebration at this moment when the
light of our progress is sending forth its rays with
increasing brightness." * Such an occasion and such a
tribute are without a parallel in the history of nations.
1 Foreign Relations U. S. 1901, p. 378.
VI
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN
The United States in 1854 had attained a com-
mercial and industrial position among the nations of
the world, which for rapidity of growth and for im-
portance was unprecedented in history. It was an era
peculiarly fitted for the development of American com-
merce. The unsettled political state of Europe, which
had materially reduced its productiveness, had but
added to the trade of the United States in the Atlantic ;
while the settlement of California had created a new
centre of energy on the Pacific, and greatly stimulated
national interest and effort in commercial intercourse
with the East. It was but natural, then, that the peo-
ple of the United States should have received the
announcement of the success of the Japan expedition
with satisfaction at the prospect of material benefit
which it offered, and with pride in the American enter-
prise and skill which had opened a new field for their
activities.
Up to the period when this expedition was initiated
the two neighboring empires of the Far East had pre-
served a uniform policy in their relations with the
Western nations. This policy was steadily persisted in
to the point where warlike opposition was encountered.
When confronted by a serious display of force, the
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 171
dissimilar character of the two peoples dictated a di-
vergent course of conduct. The Chinese with blind
obstinacy adhered to their policy, while the Japanese,
though a warlike people, were able to discern the situa-
tion of affairs and yielded to the inevitable.
The government at Yedo negotiated with the Ameri-
can plenipotentiary under the persuasive influence of
his warlike fleet, and made the best terms possible
rather than hazard the consequences of a military con-
flict. But much had yet to be done by way of ne-
gotiation before Japan was opened to commerce and
intercourse with the world. The first step, however,
had been taken and the spirit of the age would not
permit a backward movement.
The first appearance of a foreign vessel in the Bay of
Yedo after Commodore Perry had taken his departure
was that of the American clipper-ship Lady Pierce.
She had been fitted out by her owner for a pleasure
voyage, and, anticipating the success of the Perry mis-
sion, sailed from San Francisco for Japan. Fifteen
days after the commodore left, the Lady Pierce entered
the bay " as a token of peace and amity." En route at
Honolulu a shipwrecked Japanese was taken aboard,
and for his return the thanks of the authorities were
tendered. The vessel attracted great attention by the
symmetry of her model and the elegance of her appoint-
ments. Orders were received from the capital that
" similar hospitality to that displayed toward Com-
modore Perry " should be extended. During the stay
the vessel was furnished with all needed supplies, and
at its departure presents were sent the captain from the
172 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Shogun. But notice was given that thereafter all
foreign vessels must resort to the new treaty port of
Shimoda, as they would not be permitted to enter the
Bay of Yedo. The favorable change in the demeanor
of the authorities was very marked.1
The government of the United States lost no time
in taking advantage of the privileges secured by the
Perry treaty. The eleventh article provided for the
residence of a consul or agent in Shimoda eighteen
months after the signing of the treaty. Exercising
some license as to this provision, a consul-general was
appointed July 31, 1855, to reside at Shimoda, and a
month earlier a consul was named for Hakodate, the
other open port. Townsend Harris, of New York, was
selected for the post of consul-general. His school
education was confined to the academy of his native
town, but his taste for study caused him to read exten-
sively and also to acquire a knowledge of the French,
Spanish, and Italian languages. He was trained for
mercantile pursuits, and for many years was a mer-
chant in the city of New York. For six years previous
to his appointment he was engaged in commerce in the
East as supercargo and merchant, and in this way had
become familiar with the people of the Orient.
He was also charged with the negotiation of a new
treaty with Siam, the one made by Mr. Roberts in
1833 not having proved fully adequate for the pro-
tection of American interests. This duty he was en-
abled to discharge successfully, and, after a short delay,
1 The China Mail, August 24, 1854.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 173
continued on his voyage to Japan in a naval vessel
which had been placed at his service.1
The San Jacinto with the consul-general on board
reached Shimoda, August 21, 1856. Mr. Harris kept
a journal during his residence in Japan, and as he
sailed up the coast in sight of Fujiyama, he makes this
entry : " I shall be the first recognized agent from a
civilized power to reside in Japan. This forms an
epoch in my life, and may be the beginning of a new
order of things in Japan. I hope I may so conduct
myself that I may have honorable mention in the his-
tories which will be written on Japan and its future
destiny." As indicated in this extract, he at all times
during his mission evinced a laudable ambition, but it
was tempered with a well-becoming degree of reserve.
From his first intercourse with the officials at Shimoda
he was met with obstruction, evasion, and prevarication
which sorely tried his patience. The governor said that
it was not expected that a consul would be sent unless
some difficulty should arise, and that no arrangements
had been made to receive him and no proper house
could be had. He advised the consul-general to go
away and return in a year. At the official interview
granted him and Commodore Armstrong of the San
Jacinto, Harris was again requested to go away, and
when he declined the commodore was asked if he would
take a letter to the United States expressing a desire
for the consul's removal, but he also declined. He was
then asked if he would write his government and
1 For negotiations in Siam, Fankwei : The San Jacinto in the Seas of
India, China, and Japan, by Dr. W. M. Wood.
174 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
explain why Harris could not be received, and when
answered in the negative, it was proposed to Harris to
write and ask for his own removal.
Meeting with a refusal at all points and being noti-
fied by Harris that, if not received at Shimoda, he
would go in the San Jacinto to Yedo, the governor
provided a temple for his accommodation, but said that
three of its rooms would be required for the Japanese
officials who had been assigned " to aid and protect "
the consul. To this Harris objected, saying that he
would have in his house none but his own suite and
servants. He was finally installed and the American
flag unfurled from a high staff in front of the con-
sulate. His next trouble was that guards were sta-
tioned about his house, nominally for his protection,
but manifestly as spies and to restrain his movements.
After vigorous protests these were removed. Then he
was forced to complain that his servants were not per-
mitted to make purchases and were dependent on the
officials for supplies. By slow degrees he brought the
authorities to comprehend and respect his rights as a
foreign representative.
Although he held the rank only of consul-general,
Mr. Harris had been clothed by his government with
diplomatic powers, and immediately on his arrival he
dispatched a letter to the minister in charge of foreign
affairs at Yedo, informing him of his arrival and
character, and also transmitting a letter from the Sec-
retary of State of the United States. As soon as he
could adjust himself to his surroundings and secure a
proper recognition of his official rights, he set to work
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 175
to correct some of the misunderstandings which had
arisen respecting the Perry treaty. The Japanese had
denied the right of Americans to reside in the treaty
ports. They had also fixed a grossly inadequate value
on American coins used in purchasing supplies and in
trade, and had raised various other questions. After per-
sistent demands, commissioners were appointed to nego-
tiate with him, and on June 17, 1857, ten months after
his arrival, he concluded and signed with them a treaty.
By this convention the right of permanent residence
in the treaty ports was granted to Americans, the rate
of American currency was fixed at its true value, juris-
diction was granted to the consuls to try Americans for
offenses committed in Japan, and the rights and privi-
leges of consuls were more clearly defined. These were
important concessions secured by the patient, though
persistent, American representative, but they had been
obtained by him under trying circumstances. The Jap-
anese obstructions were a severe trial, but the apparent
neglect of his own government was even more dispirit-
ing. For more than twelve months after his arrival he
was without a single communication from Washington,
and he lived practically the life of a hermit. The only
white person with whom he had intercourse was his
secretary. His stock of European provisions was long
exhausted before a naval vessel brought him a new
supply, and his health felt the effects of the exclusively
Japanese fare. Yet there was still before him new
tests of his patience and official endurance, though to
be finally crowned with even greater success.1
1 For details of Mr. Harris's residence at Shimoda, see his Journal in
Life of Townsend Harris, by W. E. Griffis, Boston, 1895.
176 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Mr. Harris brought with him a letter from the Presi-
dent of the United States to the emperor of Japan, and
soon after his arrival he had applied for an audience of
the emperor to present the letter, which would involve
a journey to the capital. Such an event as the official
visit of a diplomatic representative of a Western nation
to the capital and his reception by the Shogun (or
Tycoon) was without precedent in Japanese history.
Evil portents had followed the advent of Perry. A
fearful earthquake had destroyed a large part of Yedo
and the surrounding towns. This was followed by a
typhoon by which more than a hundred thousand lives
were lost. And even at that time the capital was be-
ing ravaged by an epidemic of cholera whose victims
amounted to thirty thousand. In the minds of the peo-
ple, Providence was pronouncing condemnation against
the intrusion of the foreigners.
But the American representative was urgent, and in
order to avoid the alternative of having the President's
letter borne to the capital by another fleet of warlike
vessels and delivered under the guns of the intruders,
it was finally decided to permit the peaceful visit of the
diplomatic representative and to grant him a personal
audience of the Shogun. Shimoda was situated several
days' travel from Yedo, and the journey was made over-
land. The escort which conducted the American " am-
bassador," as he was termed by the Japanese, to Yedo
presented a picturesque appearance. First came an
avant-courrier on horseback with guards, attendants,
and criers to clear the way. Next was the " standard-
bearer " carrying the American flag, a strange ensign
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 177
to the warlike Japanese, made more striking by the
peculiar dress of the bearer, decorated with the coat of
arms of the United States, and surrounded by guards.
Then came the "ambassador" mounted on horseback
with a bodyguard, followed by his morimono, or chair of
state, and its bearers ; the secretary on horseback, with
guard and chair ; a long retinue of servants, with pre-
sents and baggage; also the vice-governor and mayor
of Shimoda, with soldiers and attendants. The whole
train numbered some three hundred and fifty persons.
The journey lay mainly over the Tokaido or imperial
highway, and consumed a week. Notice had been
given along the route of the coming of the " ambas-
sador." The bridges were all put in order, the streets
of the towns swept, and the municipal officials met the
procession and escorted the embassy through the irre-
spective precincts. Large numbers of people crowded
the highways, and knelt with averted heads as the
" great man " passed, perfectly well behaved and in
silence ; the officials only saluting by the usual prostra-
tion, touching their heads to the ground. The single
disagreeable incident occurred as the boundary line to
the metropolitan province was reached, when Mr. Harris
was informed that according to an immemorial law, from
which none were exempt, his baggage must be in-
spected. This he positively refused to permit, and after
much parleying he gained his point, and the procession
moved on across the sacred boundary.
The day which would have concluded the journey
and marked his entrance into Yedo fell upon Sunday,
but the representative of a Christian country declined
V
178 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
to go f orward, and halted to spend the Sabbath accord-
ing to his custom. "Ever since I have been in this
country/' he records in his journal, " I have refused to
transact any business on that day. . . . They now fully
understand my motives, and they respect me for them."
It was the first Sunday in Advent. He says, " I read
the whole service for the day with Mr. Heusken [his
secretary] as my clerk and congregation." Later he
describes similar observances of the day in the capital,
and says he not only read the service in a loud voice so
that the Japanese might hear it, but also told his offi-
cial attendants that it was the Christian service. "I
shall be both proud and happy if I can be the humble
means of once more opening Japan to the blessed rule
of Christianity." He was soon to have his prayer an-
swered.
The entrance of the American representative into
Yedo, following the flag of his country, was a memora-
ble event in Japanese history. It was effected with
considerable pomp, and was witnessed by hundreds of
thousands of people in perfect silence and good order.
After the customary preliminary visits to the chief min-
ister of state and others, the audience of the Shogun
and delivery of the President's letter took place. The
details of this ceremony had been in the main agreed
upon before the departure from Shimoda. When it
was suggested to Mr. Harris that he should perform
the usual prostrations in the presence of the Shogun,
he peremptorily refused and said he would consider it
an insult if the subject was ever again mentioned to
him. It was arranged that he would be received with
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 179
the ceremonies usual in European courts, he making
the three customary bows on appearing in the imperial
presence. He describes his uniform as follows : " My
dress was a coat embroidered with gold after the pat-
tern furnished by the state department, blue pantaloons
with a broad gold band running down each leg, cocked
hat with gold tassels, and a pearl-handled dress-sword."
In contrast with the attitude of the American represent
ative, all the officials present at the audience including
the chief minister of state, the princes, and even the
three brothers of the Shogun, prostrated themselves in
his presence and only moved by crawling on their hands
and knees.
Mr. Harris records that the prince, who had been
assigned to accompany him during the audience, after-
wards told him " that all who were present were amazed
at my 6 greatness of soul,' at my bearing in presence
of the mighty ruler of Japan ; they had looked to see
me * tremble and quake,' and to speak in a faltering
voice." While Mr. Harris enters this in his journal, he
says he is inclined to think there is an admixture of
" soft-sawder " in it. The audience was followed by a
dinner sent by the Shogun to the diplomat's apart-
ments, and later by an exchange of presents, among
those of the American prominently appearing cham-
pagne and liquors.1
The great work which Harris had in hand still re-
mained to be accomplished — the granting of residence
to diplomatic ministers at the capital and the opening
1 For journey and audience, Harris's Journal, Griffis, chaps, xi. and xii.
For Harris's letter, July 3, 1858, Littell's Living Age, 1859, p. 567.
180 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
of Japan to commerce and Christianity. It was a labor
which required great patience and toil, and continued
through several months. Commissioners of high rank
were delegated to conduct the negotiations with him ;
and although men of the first intelligence in the em-
pire, they acted with the simplicity of children in their
conferences with the American negotiator. Twenty
years after the event the papers of the Shogun were
made accessible to the American legation at Tokio, and
a translation of the accounts of some of these confer-
ences as recorded by the imperial commissioners was
transmitted to the Department of State, which shows a
curious state of mind on the part of the commis-
sioners.1
Mr. Harris was invited by them to state what he de-
sired to accomplish in the negotiations, and to give
them an account of the condition of political and com-
mercial affairs in the outer world. He discoursed to
them for more than two hours, and this was followed
by a series of questions and answers. In his journal
he records that as the shades of evening began to gather
he ordered in the lamps, " but the commissioners told
me I had fairly beaten them in my powers of endur-
ance, and they must beg to be excused." The Japa-
nese record shows that in the course of the conferences
the commissioners asked, among other things, if it was
necessary after establishing treaty relations to admit
ministers, and when the American " ambassador " had
replied in the affirmative, they asked —
Question. What is the duty of a minister ?
1 D. W. Stevens to Secretary of State, Foreign Relations, 1879, p. 621.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 181
Answer. * * *
Question. What is the rank of a minister ?
Answer. * # *
Question. What kind of a thing is the law of na-
tions ?
Answer. * * *
Question. Let us now hear what is meant by open-
ing ports like other nations.
Answer. * * *
Question. Is there anything more we ought to
know?
In his record of these conferences Mr. Harris says :
" I may be said to be engaged in teaching the elements
of political economy to the Japanese. . . . They said
they were in the dark on all these points, and were like
children ; therefore I must have patience with them.
They added that they placed the fullest confidence in
all my statements. ... I then gave them champagne,
which they appeared to understand and to like."
Champagne seems to have been an important factor in
the diplomacy of the Orient.
By his forbearance and painstaking method of ex-
planation and instruction, Harris won the confidence of
the imperial negotiators, and by yielding on non-essen-
tial points and demands which the Japanese could not
well concede, he succeeded in obtaining a treaty which
completely satisfied his own government and was ac-
cepted as a model by all the European nations. Much
delay in its signature was occasioned by the opposition
of the daimios and other influential dignitaries. A
182 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
copy of the treaty was carried to the sacred city of
Nikko and laid upon the tomb of the founder of the
Shogunate, in the hope that some revelation might
come from the spirit-land. It was likewise submitted
to the Mikado's court without avail. After all his la-
bors, Harris began to fear that his work would come to
naught, and in his intense anxiety he fell ill, which en-
abled the court of Yedo to show its tender regard for
him in the healing services of its physician.
Two concurrent events at last led to the consumma-
tion of his ardent hopes. Prince Ii-Kamon, a man of
resolute character and one who foresaw the future, be-
came chief minister of state. The war which England
and France were waging against China seemed to be
nearing its close, and the great armaments employed in
Chinese waters would be free to come to Japan with
their ambassadors to dictate treaties. Mr. Harris made
the most of the situation, and urged the Japanese to
act promptly and thereby " save the point of honor that
might arise from their apparently yielding to the force
that backs the plenipotentiary, and not to the justice
of his demands." Prince Ii put aside all opposition
and directed the Harris treaty to be signed. The
American, without the aid of ships of war, had fought
his diplomatic battle single-handed, and had won.
When the experienced British, French, and Kussian
ambassadors sailed into the Bay of Yedo, escorted by
mighty fleets, they found the arduous part of their task
already accomplished.
The treaty, signed July 29, 1858, provided for diplo-
matic agents to reside at the capital, and consuls at all
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 183
the open ports. Commerce was authorized, additional
ports were opened, and a tariff and trade regulations
were agreed upon. Americans were permitted to reside
at the capital and at all the open ports, jurisdiction over
them was given to their consuls, and the free exercise
of their religion was guaranteed. Other provisions
were made, and the treaty was so broad as to remain
practically the basis of Japan's relations with all the
Western countries for a period of forty years, or until
the empire was finally released from its pupilage in
1899, and admitted freely into the family of nations.
Lord Elgin, governor-general of India, and British
ambassador accompanying the forces in China, reached
the Bay of Yedo the month following the signature of
the Harris treaty, having stopped on the way at Shi-
moda to confer with the American diplomat, from whom
he obtained a copy of his treaty, and secured the aid
of his secretary, Mr. Heusken, as interpreter. He re-
mained in the bay nine days, in which time he signed
a treaty modeled after that of the United States, and
delivered to the Japanese government a yacht as a pre-
sent from the queen of Great Britain. The French and
Russian fleets were in the harbor during the same
month, and following the example of the British, their
representatives negotiated similar treaties.1
Happy auspices attended the sequel to the signature
1 For Harris negotiations, Harris Journal, Griffis, chaps, xiii. to xvi. ;
Harris Letter, July 6, 1858, Littell's Liv. Age, 1859, p. 571 ; Nitobe,
113 ; 1 Japan, by Sir E. J. Reed, London, 1880, p. 252 ; Narrative of
Lord Elgin's visit, etc., Lawrence Oliphant, New York, 1860 ; London
Examiner, Nov. 6, 1858, in Littell's Liv. Age, 1858, p. 893 ; 1 The Capi-
tal of the Tycoon, by Sir R. Alcock, London, 1863, pp. 208-222.
184 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
of the Harris treaty. It provided that the ratifications
should be exchanged in Washington, and the faithful
representative brought about a proposition from the
Japanese government to make the exchange the occa-
sion of a special embassy to Washington. As the
United States had been the first nation with which Ja-
pan had made a treaty, so, said the ministers of state,
" the first mission ever sent abroad by our nation "
should be to that country. The suggestion was cheer-
fully accepted by the government at Washington, and
it was determined to bring the embassy in naval vessels
of the United States. Some delay was occasioned, how-
ever, by the necessity of securing an exception to the
law inflicting the penalty of death upon any one leav-
ing the empire. The embassy consisting, officials and
attendants, of seventy-one persons, sailed from Japan
in February, 1860, the thoughtful Harris having planned
the journey so that his Japanese friends might see his
capital in the genial month of May.
The embassy was received in San Francisco with cor-
dial welcome, transferred at Panama to another man-
of-war, and brought direct to Washington. Here they
were made the guests of the nation, received in state
by the President, and entertained by the Secretary of
State. The cities of the Atlantic seaboard vied with
each other in extending hospitalities and honors. They
attracted universal attention and friendly and favorable
comment, their dignified deportment especially being
noticed, the general newspaper remark being that " they
were quite as dignified, intelligent, and well bred as any
gentlemen in any country or time." On the other
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 185
hand, the Japanese were greatly pleased with their re-
ception, and amazed at what they saw. The chief am-
bassador, Shimmi, wrote home in glowing terms of their
treatment : " Though I have not yet seen the capital,
I have already amassed knowledge and experience
enough to pile up a mountain or fill up a sea. But of
these, were I to speak with you, three fourths will be a
relation of what I grieve for for our country." The
embassy returned to Japan by the same route and
method as they came.1
Upon the ratification of the treaty Mr. Harris was
commissioned as minister, and continued at his post till
May, 1862. He had under date of July 10, 1861,
asked the President to accept his resignation and ap-
point his successor. He wrote : " The extraordinary
life of isolation I have been compelled to lead has
greatly impaired my health, and this, joined to my ad-
vancing years, warns me that it is time for me to give
up all public employment." Secretary Seward, in ac-
cepting the resignation, said : " I regard your retirement
from the important post you have filled with such dis-
tinguished ability and success as a subject of grave
anxiety, not only for this country, but for all the West-
ern nations." The Japanese government was likewise
very expressive in its regret at his departure. The
ministers for foreign affairs, in a letter to Secretary
Seward, recognized his perfect knowledge of affairs, his
friendly conduct, and the great value of his services to
their country, and regretted that he could not continue
as minister.
1 S. Ex. Doc. 25, 36th Cong. 1st Sess. ; Harper's Weekly, May and
June, 1860 ; Nitobe, 159.
186 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
The discoverer or explorer of regions before unknown
has always commanded just admiration, but the pioneer
following in his footsteps and by patient toil securing
to civilization the new found lands is too often forgot-
ten by those who reap the fruits of his labor. The
same is true in the great world of commerce. He who
first enters a new field which gives promise of exten-
sive trade is remembered and honored by future gener-
ations, while the man who comes after him and by
persistent effort, unadorned with adventure or novelty,
makes possible the development of a profitable com-
merce, receives but slight commendation as recompense
for faithful service. So it was in the case of Japan.
The name of Commodore Perry is familiar to every
American, while that of Town send Harris, the nego-
tiator of the first commercial treaty with Japan, and the
founder of diplomatic intercourse, is comparatively but
little known and his achievements but little remembered.
The genius of Perry had unbarred the gate of the island
empire and left it ajar ; but it was the skill of Harris
which threw it open to the commercial enterprise of
the world.
The first British minister to Japan, after becoming
fully conversant with the situation of affairs, gave Har-
ris great credit for skill and estimated highly the value
of his services to all nations. By the Japanese he is
held in grateful remembrance. He reflected great
honor upon his country, and justly deserves to rank
among the first diplomats of the world, if such rank is
measured by accomplishment.1
1 U. S. Dip. Cor. 1862, pp. 799, 812, 816 ; 1 Alcock's Capital of the
Tycoon, 208 ; Nitobe, 115.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 187
The enforcement of the treaties of 1858, whereby
diplomatic ministers were established in the capital and
certain of the ports opened to foreign residence and
commerce, was the signal for a manifestation of great
discontent throughout the empire. Perry's treaty had
been bitterly opposed by most of the leading daimios,
and they had steadily set themselves against all foreign
intercourse. Towards the Shogun and his government,
which had made the treaties, their attacks were mainly
directed, but the foreigners were destined to experience
the first assaults.
The dual form of government, which had existed for
centuries, was involved in the controversy. The Mi-
kado, or emperor, resided at the interior city of Kioto,
and had been kept in virtual retirement, being sover-
eign only in name. The Shogun, the military com-
mander, whose ancestors had usurped the executive
functions of government, was the real ruler of the em-
pire. But many of the daimios had long been restive
under the usurper, and the feeling of discontent was
already widespread at the time of the coming of Perry.
The treaties added fuel to the flame, and the cry
was raised, " Honor the Mikado, and drive out the
foreign barbarians.,, Harris's journal shows that he
scarcely understood the internal situation at the time
of his negotiations. He frequently charges the Japa-
nese officials with bad faith and falsehood, in protesting
that they could not yield to his demands because of the
prejudice and opposition of the enemies of the govern-
ment, when subsequent events showed that they were
sincere in these declarations. After he had been in
188 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the country more than a year, he makes this entry :
" Among the mysteries of this mysterious land, none is
more puzzling to me than this Mikado." In 1858, after
his treaty had been agreed upon, he records the great
contempt with which the Mikado was spoken of by
the Yedo officials, who claimed that he was " a mere
cipher." And yet, when the authorities found it neces-
sary to send his treaty to Kioto for approval, he
began to suspect that the Shogun's government was an
empty sham, and that the real ruler of Japan was the
Mikado.1
The first few years after the treaties of 1858 were
times of disorder and violence. Even the life of Mr.
Harris was threatened while the negotiations were in
progress. In 1859, during the visit of a Russian fleet,
one of its officers and two men were killed in the
streets of Yokohama. Early in 1860 an interpreter of
the Russian legation was mortally wounded, and the
captains of two Dutch vessels were hacked to pieces.
In March, Ii, the regent of the Shogun, who had
caused the treaties to be signed, was assassinated for
the alleged reasons that he was "making foreign in-
tercourse his chief aim," and had insulted the Mikado's
decree. Then Mr. Heusken, the useful and worthy
secretary of the United States legation, was murdered
in the streets of Yedo in January, 1861. The next
year the British legation was attacked by a foreign-
hating mob and two of the British guards were killed.
Bands of lawless men, ronins, were abroad stirring up
1 Harris's Journal, 122, 270, 313; Chamberlain's Things Japanese,
385.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 189
opposition to the foreigners, and the Shogunate seemed
powerless to repress them.
During this year occurred one of the most celebrated
cases of assaults upon foreigners. A Mr. Richardson,
an Englishman, with a few friends, while riding on the
Japanese highway near Yokohama, was attacked and
killed by some of the followers of the prince of Sat-
suma, one of the most powerful daimios of the empire
and a bitter opponent of the foreigners. The conduct
of the Englishman which caused the assault seems to
have been very foolhardy, but the British minister made
a demand upon the Shogunate for $500,000 and upon
the daimio of Satsuma for $125,000 as an indemnity.
The Shogunate after some delay agreed to the payment
of the first sum, but the prince of Satsuma refused.
A British squadron was dispatched to Kagoshima, the
daimio's capital, which was bombarded and burnt, after
which the indemnity was paid.1
This lesson, however, was not sufficient to teach the
anti-foreign element the futility of attempting to rid
their country of the intruders. Numerous acts of vio-
lence occurred in 1863, among which was the burning
of the American legation in Yedo. Hon. R. H. Pruyn,
of New York, had succeeded Mr. Harris in 1862,
1 A Japanese statesman, writing sixteen years after this event, says :
" There were many cases where fatal collisions were purposely provoked
by foreigners, the results of which were no more a matter of satisfaction
to us than of regret. Such was the case of Richardson, the Englishman,
who willfully tried to ride through the train of the state procession of
the prince of Satsuma, and was killed by a retainer of the prince, an act
which, at that time of feudalism, was entirely justifiable, because such
discourtesy to a princely retinue was deemed an unpardonable outrage."
Matsuyama Makoto, N, A. Rev. Nov. 1878, p. 412.
190 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
and assumed his duties in the height of the agitation
against foreigners. When his legation was burned, he
took up his residence in another house and refused to
leave the capital, although his European colleagues had
withdrawn to Yokohama, where they were under the
protection of their men-of-war. Finally the govern-
ment informed him that it could no longer protect him,
and he was escorted by a large armed force to a Japa-
nese steamer and taken to Yokohama. He secured
from the Shogunate a payment of $10,000 to the
mother of Mr. Heusken, the murdered secretary of
legation ; also $10,000 for losses on account of the
burning of the legation ; and various other sums for
injuries suffered by American citizens and vessels. He,
however, sought to exercise the utmost moderation in
his attitude towards the government, and carried his
friendly spirit so far as to awaken the suspicion of the
British and some other ministers of his complicity with
the Japanese.1
The Mikado's party had become so strong as to lead
the Shogun to obey the summons to Kioto to confer
with the emperor, a visit which was without precedent
in the past three centuries. From Kioto the Shogun
issued an order, which was delivered to the foreign
representatives, " to the effect that the ports are to be
closed and the foreigners driven out, because the people
i U. S. Dip. Cor. 1861, 1862, 1863, subject, " Japan " ; Nitobe, 75 ;
1 Reed's Japan, 255-267 ; Rein's Japan, 349 ; Alcock, vol. 1, chaps, xi.,
xiv., xvi., xvii., vol. 2, chaps, ii., iii., viii. ; Griffis's Mikado, 591 ; 1 Adams's
History of Japan, 138, etc. ; The Story of Japan, by David Murray, New
York, 1894, p. 344. For Prince Ii, The Life of Ii Naosuki, by Shimada
Saburo, Tokio, 1888.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 191
do not desire intercourse with the foreign countries."
To this order Mr. Pruyn replied that the citizens of
the United States had the right of residence and trade
granted by treaty. " The right thus acquired will not
be surrendered and cannot be withdrawn. Even to
propose such a measure is an insult to my country, and
equivalent to a declaration of war. . . . The determi-
nation of the Mikado and Tycoon, if attempted to be
carried into effect, must involve Japan in a war with
all the treaty powers."
During the difficulties with which the Shogunate had
been surrounded on account of the treaties, the action
of Mr. Pruyn, in contrast with the attitude of the
British and French ministers, had been of a concilia-
tory and forbearing character. Hence the Japanese
sought to detach him from concerted action with the
European powers, but he refused to listen to the sug-
gestions. The Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, approved
his conduct, and wrote: "You will represent to the
minister of foreign affairs that it is not at all to be
expected that any one of the maritime powers will
consent to the suspension of their treaties, and that
the United States will cooperate with them in all neces-
sary means to maintain and secure the fulfillment of
the treaties on the part of the Japanese government."
This action of the government of the United States
constitutes an exception to its general policy of avoid-
ing cooperation with European powers, but the con-
dition of affairs in the East and the community of
interest of the treaty powers made such action to a
certain extent desirable, if not necessary.
192 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Strengthened by the instruction of the Secretary of
State, and taking advantage of his friendly relations
with the Shogunate, Mr. Pruyn induced the ministers
of foreign affairs to recall their letter ordering the
closing of the ports and the withdrawal of the for-
eigners. It is highly probable that the Shogun's
action in issuing the order of the Mikado was merely
perf unctory, and that his government never expected
to attempt its enforcement, knowing full well that it
would not be obeyed by the foreigners. Envoys had
been sent by it to the governments of Europe asking
for the suspension of the treaties and the postponement
of the opening of the new ports, but they failed in
their purpose, and it was apparent to well-informed
Japanese that the country would not be permitted to
take a backward step. Upon the withdrawal of the
notice for the expulsion of foreigners, the representa-
tives of the treaty powers, recognizing the embarrass-
ments which surrounded the Japanese government, con-
sented to the postponement of the time for the opening
of the new ports of Yedo, Hiogo, and others.1
Concurrently with these negotiations an event oc-
curred which hastened the adjustment of the internal
troubles of Japan and a definite settlement of its for-
eign relations. The prince of Choshiu, a powerful
anti-foreign daimio who was in open rebellion to the
Shogun, had sought to close the strait of Shimonoseki,
which connected the Inland Sea of Japan with the
1 U. S. Dip. Cor. 1863, 1864, subject « Japan " ; Nitobe, 78 ; 1 Reed's
Japan, 263 ; History of Japan, by Kinse Shiriaku, translation, Yokohama,
1873, p. 30.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 193
Chinese waters and was regarded by the maritime
nations as an ocean highway. The prince had fortified
the narrow passage which intersected his territory and
guarded it with armed vessels. An American merchant
vessel passing through the strait was fired upon, and,
later, ships of other nationalities were similarly treated.
When the news reached Yokohama, the United States
naval steamer Wyoming was in the harbor, and, upon
consultation with Mr. Pruyn and at his request, she
proceeded to Shimonoseki, and on entering the strait
was fired upon by the vessels and batteries. She
returned the fire, sinking one of the vessels and badly
damaging the other two. She passed through the
strait and returned, engaging the batteries, with the
loss of four men killed and seven wounded.
About the same time French and Dutch naval vessels
had a similar experience. As a result of these attacks,
a meeting of the representatives of the treaty powers
was held at Yokohama, at which it was decided to or-
ganize and dispatch an expedition to open the strait, if
it was not done by Japan within twenty days. The
Shogun being powerless in the matter, the expedition
sailed. It consisted of nine British ships of war, four
Dutch, three French, and one United States chartered
steamer, the Jamestown, U. S. N., being detailed to
protect Yokohama. The latter was the only man-of-war
in Japanese waters, the civil war in the United States
requiring all other of its naval vessels elsewhere. The
attack upon the daimio's forts and vessels began Sep-
tember 5, 1863, and continued until the 8th, when he,
defeated at every point, made an unconditional submis-
194 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
sion, and thenceforward the strait was open and free to
the commerce of the world.
The attack was followed by a demand on the Sho-
gunate by the ministers of the four participating powers
for an indemnity, which was fixed at $3,000,000, and
after some delay and great embarrassment, because of
the poverty of the treasury, it was paid. An equal share
of the indemnity was allotted to each nation, although
Great Britain had furnished the greater portion of the
armament. The exaction of the indemnity under the
circumstances has been the subject of much adverse
criticism. The attempt to close the port was in viola-
tion of international law ; but it was not the act of the
government with which the powers had relations, and
it claimed that, if time was afforded, it would bring
about the removal of the obstruction. The sum paid
to the United States remained in the treasury unused
for twenty years. The public conscience was troubled
as to the justness of the exaction, and in 1883 by an
act of Congress the amount received was returned to
Japan, and accepted by that government " as a strong
manifestation of that spirit of justice and equity which
has always animated the United States in its relations
with Japan." None of the other three nations par-
taking of the indemnity have seen fit to follow this
example.1
An incident connected with the Shimonoseki affair
occurred which was not without influence on the later
history of Japan. The year before, two youths, mem-
1 U. S. Dip. Cor. 1863-4, " Japan " ; 22 Statutes at L. 421; U. S. For.
Rel. 1883, p. 606 ; Griffis's Mikado, 593.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 195
bers of the Choshiu clan, had escaped from the country
through Yokohama, notwithstanding the death penalty
for such an act. Being inspired with the foreign-hating
spirit of their prince, they went abroad for the purpose
of learning what it was that made the Western nations
formidable, in order that they might return and make
use of their knowledge against the intruder. They
made their way to London as common sailors, and there
heard of the resolution of the Mikado to expel the bar-
barians, and of the war which threatened their country
as a consequence. Their patriotic fervor led them to
return. They reached Shimonoseki just at the time of
the attack of the foreign squadrons, and acted as inter-
preters to their prince in the peace negotiations. As
Marquis Ito and Count Inouye they are known among
the public men of the " New Japan " as having borne
an honorable and conspicuous part in its regeneration.
The effect of the severe lessons taught the powerful
daimios of Satsuma and Choshiu by the foreign fleets
was to convince them of the folly of continuing further
their opposition to the barbarians, and that it would be
the wiser policy for their country to avail itself of the
influences and methods which had made the Western
nations so powerful. These lessons were not without
their effect also upon other of the Mikado's supporters,
and the court of Kioto, while it continued its efforts to
destroy the power of the Shogun, relaxed its opposition
to the treaties and to foreign residence and commerce.
The first important manifestation in this direction was
the sanction by the Mikado of the treaties which the
Shogun had made with the powers.
196 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
When Commodore Perry negotiated his treaty in
1854, he supposed that he was holding relations with
the government of the emperor of Japan. He died
without knowing his error. The treaties negotiated
with the European powers succeeding that of Perry
were signed by their representatives under the same
delusion. The real conditions of the Japanese system
of government had been fully set forth several years
before in publications at Canton/ but do not seem to
have been brought to the attention of Perry and those
who immediately followed him. It has been seen that
the true relation between the Shogun and the Mikado
began to dawn upon Harris in the midst of the tor-
tuous negotiations in which he was involved, and soon
thereafter they were fully understood. It is to be
noted, however, that no other course was open to those
early negotiators than the one pursued by them. The
Shogun had in his hands the executive functions of
government, and at the time the Mikado did not pos-
sess even the semblance of power.
Mr. Pruyn, both separately and in conjunction with
his European colleagues, had repeatedly urged upon the
Shogunate that it should obtain from the Mikado his
approval of the treaties. In 1865 the Shogun and his
ministers had taken up their temporary residence at
Osaka, in order to be near the Mikado, and from that
place they reported to the representatives of the foreign
powers at Yokohama that the two heads of government
were in friendly accord, and that the Shogun expected
1 2 Chinese Repository (1833), p. 319; 9 lb. (1840), p. 500; 10 lb.
(1841), p. 10.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 197
soon to go to Kioto and obtain the Mikado's sanction
of the treaties. Finally the diplomats, wearied with
the delay, decided to go to Osaka in a body and bring
about the much desired result. They were escorted by
a squadron of nine men-of-war of different nationalities,
and in a short time after their arrival the Mikado's order
was published (November 24, 1865), and sent to all the
daimios, giving " imperial consent to the treaties."
The value of such action was that thereafter opposi-
tion to the treaties and to foreigners would be a viola-
tion of the emperor's edict. Up to that time opposition
to them had been evidence of loyalty to the Mikado.
The result was a marked improvement in the attitude
of the people towards the foreign residents, although
attacks upon them by lawless persons did not entirely
cease. The American legation was again established at
Yedo, where it has since continued undisturbed. Mr.
Pruyn, who had served his country as minister through
four years of very trying experience, with much useful-
ness to the government and credit to himself, resigned,
and was succeeded in 1866 by R. B. Van Valkenburgh.
During this year another evidence of the liberal ten-
dency of the Mikado's government was the repeal of
the decree, which had been in force for more than two
hundred years, prohibiting the Japanese from leaving
their country. In transmitting notice of this repeal to
his government, the American minister says, " Another
barrier of Japanese isolation has thus been removed."
It does not fall within the scope of this volume to
trace the internal contest which resulted in the trans-
formation of the system of government of Japan. It
198 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
became apparent from the civil war in progress and
the attitude of the treaty powers that the welfare of the
country demanded the restoration of full power to the
Mikado. One of the leading supporters of the Sho-
gun, reflecting the sentiments of many of the daimios
of his party, addressed an appeal to his chief, in the
course of which he said : " The march of events has
brought about a revolution, and the old system can no
longer be obstinately persevered in. You should restore
the governing power into the hands of the sovereign,
and so lay the foundation on which Japan may take its
stand as the equal of all other countries. This is the
imperative duty of the present moment, and is the heart-
felt prayer of Yodo."
Impressed with the wisdom of the course indicated in
this appeal, the Shogun addressed a manifesto to his
adherents, in which he stated that " It appears to me
the laws cannot be maintained in the face of the daily
extension of our foreign relations, unless the govern-
ment is conducted by one head, and I purpose there-
fore to surrender the whole governing power into the
hands of the Imperial Court." This was followed by
the formal tender of his resignation, which was accepted
by the Mikado. Many of his followers, however, re-
fused to acquiesce in the transfer of the executive power,
and the civil war continued for a time ; but the Mikado
was in the end completely triumphant.
The recognition of the Mikado as emperor was soon
followed by an audience granted by him to the foreign
diplomatic representatives, and later by the transfer of
the seat of government to Yedo, which thenceforward
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 199
was given the name of Tokio, meaning the " eastern
capital." During the civil war the Mikado, who had
so strongly opposed the treaties and foreigners, died,
and was succeeded by his son, Mutsuhito, a youth of
fifteen years, who is still the reigning sovereign. After
the resignation of the Shogun and the restoration of
peace, the emperor in 1869 took what is sometimes
called the " charter oath," promising to give his people
a deliberative assembly, to rule justly, and "to seek for
wisdom in all quarters of the world."
In the same year an event occurred which is without
precedent in the history of nations, and which is the
highest testimonial of the patriotism of the public men
of Japan. For ages there had existed in the country a
feudal system of the most rigid character. The princes,
or daimios, were the supreme rulers in their respective
provinces, the lords of the domain, and entitled to the
unreserved service of their retainers and the people.
The most intelligent and thoughtful of the daimios saw
that the emperor, to be all that the name implied and in
a position to rank with the rulers of the Western world,
must be possessed with the powers which the princes
then enjoyed. Hence they brought about a voluntary
surrender to the emperor by all the feudal lords of their
titles, rank, lands, and revenues, and thus enabled the
government to be thoroughly reorganized under the
modern system of nations.1
An interesting fact connected with Christianity was
brought to light by the civil commotions and the
1 €. S. Dip. Cor. 1867-1869, " Japan" ; Kinse's History, chaps, ii. and
iii. ; Adams's History of Japan ; Rein's Japan, 355-375.
200 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
opening of the country to foreigners. It appeared that,
notwithstanding the severe measures which had been
adopted in the seventeenth century for the suppression
of the " evil sect/' a considerable body of native Chris-
tians — numbering several thousand — had secretly
kept their faith, and the changed condition of the
country emboldened them to make themselves known.
This awakened the hostility of the government, and a
proclamation was issued by the emperor reviving the
ancient prohibitive decrees. The matter came to the
notice of the American minister. He convoked his
colleagues, and an identic note of protest was agreed
upon and sent to the Japanese government.
On receipt of the proclamation by Secretary Seward,
he replied to Mr. Van Valkenburgh that the President
" regards the proclamation as not merely ill-judged, but
as injurious and offensive to the United States and to
all other Christian states, and as directly conflicting
with the eighth article of the treaty of 1858, and no
less in conflict with the tolerating spirit and principles
which prevail throughout the world. You are advised,
therefore, that the United States cannot acquiesce in or
submit to the Mikado's proclamation." The minister
was instructed to bring the matter quietly and in a
friendly manner to the attention of the Japanese gov-
ernment, in view of the civil disturbances, but to
" proceed with firmness and without practicing inju-
rious hesitation or accepting any abasing compromise."
The other treaty powers adopted the same course,
but not until after much discussion and delay on the
part of the Japanese government did the persecution
THE TRANSFORMATION OF JAPAN 201
cease and were all the prohibitions against Christianity
revoked.1
The overthrow of the Shogun, the assumption of full
power by the Mikado, thenceforth known only as
Emperor, the abolition of f eudalism, the removal of the
capital to Tokio ( Yedo), and 'the establishment of un- J &
qualified diplomatic relations with the Western coun-
tries, secured for Japan a recognized place among the
powers of the world; but it had a long and weary
journey to travel before it could take its place as an
equal in the family of nations. After much hesitation
and civil commotion, it had turned its back upon the
past, but there was before it the task of reorganizing
the administration of government, the judiciary, the
social system, and commerce. A generation was yet
to pass before the reorganization was to be complete
in the estimation of the foreign powers. ^J
True to his " charter oath," the emperor was to seek
for wisdom in all quarters of the world. The leading
nations of the earth were to have their share in advan-
cing or retarding the development of the country, and
in enabling it to attain the goal of the patriotic am-
bition of its people. The United States had been fore-
most in leading Japan out of its seclusion. The part
which it was to play in the development of the new
order of affairs will form the subject of a later chapter.
What the country had already accomplished com-
manded the respect of mankind. The people of the
Western world especially were prepared to welcome the
1 U. S. Dip. Cor. 1867, pp. 56, 63 ; 1868, pp. 749, 757, 796 ; 1870,
453-486 ; Murray's Japan, 379.
y*l4
202 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
dawning of a new era in the East. A sympathetic
response was made to the motto which the Japanese
inscribed over their exhibit at the Centennial Exposi-
tion in Philadelphia in 1876 : —
In the ancient Yamato Island, the sun rises :
Must not even the foreigner reverence ?
vn
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA
Kelying upon the effect of the British war and the
advantages secured by the treaties of China of 1842
and 1844 with Great Britain, the United States, and
France, the Western nations looked hopefully forward
to an era of friendly intercourse with the imperial
government and one of great commercial prosperity.
But they were destined to serious disappointment.
Notwithstanding past experience they had failed to
estimate properly the conservatism and arrogance of
the Chinese.
Supported by a continuous history of several thou-
sands of years, during which they had developed a high
state of civilization, the Chinese felt that they had
nothing to learn from the barbarian nations. Their
recent intercourse with them led to the belief that
the latter were influenced by mercenary and hostile
motives, and that an increase of this intercourse would
bring only evil results for their nation. They regarded
theirs as the Middle Kingdom and all the outlying
nations of the world as vassal and tributary to their
celestial emperor. Although the superior military
power of the Western nations had been demonstrated
at Canton and a few other places on the coast, it had
hardly pierced the outer rim of the vast empire, and
204 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the court at Peking was totally ignorant of the strength
and progress of the outside world. Intrenched in the
conviction of their intellectual and material superiority,
the Chinese were still resolved to hold as little inter-
course as possible with the treaty powers, and to
interpret strictly in their favor the conventions which
had been forced upon them.
Mr. Davis, who was the United States representative
from 1848 to 1850, was mainly occupied with install-
ing the consular officers at the treaty ports with the
judicial functions with which they were clothed by the
treaty of 1844, growing out of their exterritorial juris-
diction. His reports upon the subject to the Depart-
ment of State were made the basis of the peculiar
legislation of Congress respecting the judicial powers
of consuls, which with subsequent amendments has
continued to the present time.
The most noted event of his mission was an inter-
view held with the imperial commissioner, which was
the only one since the treaty of 1844, and it proved to
be the last had by an American representative with
the resident Canton high commissioner. In place of
being held at the yamen or official residence of the
commissioner in Canton or on board a man-of-war of
the United States, as official etiquette required, it took
place at a commercial warehouse in the suburbs of Can-
ton. There was present at that interview as a subor-
dinate official the afterwards celebrated Yeh, who bore
such a conspicuous part in the troubles which led to
the second British war.
Mr. Davis had been selected for the post because of
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 205
his prominence in domestic politics, having been a
member of Congress for several years and speaker of
the House. The concurrent testimony of contempo-
rary writers is that he discharged his duties modestly
and well, and left a reputation for intelligence, discre-
tion, and devotion to duty. Upon the resignation of
Mr. Davis, Dr. Parker, the secretary of legation, became
charge d'affaires.1
In 1852 Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky, was com-
missioned and entered upon his duties as minister.
The chief business which occupied his attention was in
seeking to secure an interview with Yeh, who had been
designated as high commissioner to transact affairs at
Canton with the representatives of foreign govern-
ments. In answer to a request from Marshall for an
interview, to place in his hands a letter from the Presi-
dent of the United States for transmission to the em-
peror, Yeh responded that he was too busy at that time
to meet him, but that as soon as his pressing engage-
ments would allow he would " select a felicitous day "
on which to hold with the minister " a pleasant inter-
view."
Mr. Marshall was quite indignant at the tone of
Yeh's letter. He wrote the Secretary of State that
" there was no probability that the ' felicitous day '
will ever arrive ; " that the French minister had been
waiting at Macao fifteen months for a personal inter-
view ; and that he as the representative of the United
1 MSS. Department of State, " China," 1848-50 ; S. Ex. Doc. 22, 35th
Cong. 2d Sess. p. 299 ; N. A. Review, Oct. 1859, p. 482 ; Littell's Living
Age, Oct. 1858, p. 384.
206 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
States was not only excluded from the imperial court
at Peking, but, practically, from personal intercourse
with the high commissioner at Canton. He decided to
go to Shanghai and secure, if possible, the transmittal
of the President's letter through E-liang, the viceroy of
that province, and, failing in that, to proceed to Tien-
tsin in a man-of-war and demand an audience of the
emperor from that point,
After some delay he was courteously received by
E-liang, who undertook to send the President's letter
to the emperor, but who said he was not authorized to
transact business with him. In due course a reply
came from the emperor, not in the form of a letter to
the President, as courtesy required, but in a communi-
cation to the viceroy. The receipt of the President's
letter was acknowledged, and the minister was informed
that it was not necessary for him to come to Peking,
as Commissioner Yeh was fully empowered to dispatch
all public business with him. This reply made him the
more desirous to proceed to the Peiho.
But another obstacle stood in the way of the execu-
tion of this plan ; the commander of the American
squadron on the Asiatic station seemed unwilling to
support him. Commodore Aulick had not found it
convenient to furnish Marshall with a naval vessel
to transport him to Shanghai at the time desired, and
when Commodore Perry, who succeeded Aulick, arrived
at that place, he declined to yield to the minister's
request for a ship to bear him to the Peiho, whence he
proposed to make a demand backed by the presence of
the man-of-war for an audience of his imperial majesty
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 207
at Peking. Perry had nearest at heart his mission to
Japan, and besides he gave Marshall plainly to under-
stand that he regarded the latter's scheme of a demon-
stration at the Peiho as chimerical and unwise.
This expression of opinion on the part of the com-
modore led Marshall to suggest ironically to the Secre-
tary of State " the propriety of managing diplomatic
relations with foreign countries through the instru-
mentality alone of the commodores of the navy, whose
education and habits fit them peculiarly for the dis-
cussion of questions of international law ! " He also
had his retort for the commodore's opinion of his Peiho
project by referring to "the shadowy future which
may be enveloped within c the peaceful expedition ' to
Japan." Subsequent events, however, established the
correctness of the naval diplomat's judgment in both
matters.
The subject of the proper relation between the dip-
lomatic and naval officials of the government has been
much discussed and has occasioned many unpleasant
incidents not only in the service of the United States,
but in that of Great Britain and other powers. Mr.
Marshall's altercations with Aulick and Perry led to
the issuance of specific instructions on the subject by
the Department of State. Secretary Marcy, in writing
to Mr. McLane, who succeeded Mr. Marshall in the
Chinese mission, furnished him with a copy of the in-
structions given by the Secretary of the Navy to Com-
modore Perry, in which the latter was directed to
render the minister such assistance as the exigencies
of the public interest might require. But, he added,
208 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
" the President does not propose to subject him to your
control, but he expects that you and he will cooperate
together whenever, in the judgment of both, the in-
terests of the United States indicate the necessity or the
advantage of such cooperation." This in substance has
been embodied in the instructions to diplomatic and
naval officers, and this well-defined relation has in re-
cent years prevented trouble and misunderstanding.
Mr. Marshall spent some time at Shanghai, where he
found abundant occupation in the commercial troubles
growing out of what is known as the Taiping Rebel-
lion, in restraining Americans from taking part in it by
rendering personal service or material aid to one or the
other of the belligerents, and in repressing the lawless-
ness of deserting American seamen and adventurers.
During his mission this revolt against the imperial
government reached its highest point. Beginning in
1850, it had by 1853 swept over and occupied the
provinces south of the Yang-tse-Kiang, except the
open ports, had captured the Chinese city of Shanghai
and the ancient capital Nankin, had crossed the great
river, was threatening Tientsin, and even Peking was
in danger of falling into rebel hands. It constitutes
one of the most extensive, bloody, and curious insur-
rections in the annals of time. It threatened the ex-
istence of the oldest and most populous empire of the
world ; it is estimated that twenty millions of lives were
sacrificed by it; and it had its origin in the vagaries of
a dreaming enthusiast who claimed to base his move-
ment upon the principles of Christianity.
A narrative of its events does not fall within the
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 209
province of this work, but it had such relations to Ameri-
can citizens and their interests, and engaged to such an
extent the attention of the representatives of the United
States, that it cannot be passed over without some notice.
The leader of the rebellion, when a young man attend-
ing the literary examinations at Canton, had had his
attention attracted to Christianity by the preaching and
tract circulation of native Protestant converts. Some
years later he put himself under the instruction of Kev.
J. J. Eoberts, an American Baptist missionary, at whose
hands he sought baptism and admission into the church,
which were refused. He returned to his native village
and claimed that he had visions and revelations from
heaven and that he was the younger brother of Jesus
Christ.
He proclaimed a mission to destroy idolatry and over-
throw the Manchu dynasty. The country seemed ripe
for revolt, and unexpected success attended the early
movements against the local authorities. Success
brought adherents from the disaffected and the lawless,
and within three years more than half of the populous
part of the empire was in control of the revolutionists,
and the dynasty seemed doomed to destruction. At
first the missionaries and the Christian world hailed the
movement as the dawning of a new and better era for
the Chinese. But upon further information it became
apparent that the principles proclaimed and the prac-
tices observed were a gross travesty of Christianity, and
that the leader and his chiefs had abandoned themselves
to all the vice and licentiousness of an oriental court.
After the fall of Nankin, Mr. Roberts was invited by
210 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the chief to come to his court and give his counsel to
the new government. Minister Marshall, whom he
consulted, told him that it was hardly consistent with
his neutral status as an American citizen to respond to
the call. Notwithstanding this advice, Mr. Roberts
repaired to the camp of the insurgents at Nankin, but
a short stay convinced him that they were not controlled
by the spirit or principles of Christianity. The leader
had so surrounded himself with the august ceremonials
of his exalted position that Mr. Roberts was not per-
mitted to see him, and he returned to his post of duty at
Canton disappointed and disgusted with the movement.
By the middle of the year 1853 the rebellion had
assumed such proportions as to warrant the assumption
that it might become the de facto government of the
empire, and Mr. Marshall's successor, Mr. McLane, was
authorized in his discretion to recognize it as such, if on
his arrival the situation justified such a course. Soon
after he reached Shanghai, he made a visit in a naval
vessel to the headquarters of the Taiping leader in order
to study personally the state and spirit of the move-
ment. After some difficulty in making his approach
to Nankin, Mr. McLane was able to communicate his
arrival and his desire to meet the official charged with
foreign intercourse. His action was interpreted as an
approach to do homage to the government of the rebel-
lion, and the minister of state sent him a long reply
couched in a haughty tone of superiority, in which he
said : —
" If you do indeed respect Heaven and recognize the
Sovereign, then our celestial court, viewing all under
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 211
Heaven as one family, and uniting all nations as one
body, will most assuredly regard your faithful pur-
pose and permit you year by year to bring tribute and
annually come to pay court to the Celestial Kingdom,
forever bathing yourself in the gracious streams of the
celestial dynasty, peacefully residing in your own lands,
and living quietly enjoying great glory."
The comment of Mr. McLane upon the correspond-
ence was that, "Whatever may have been the hopes
of the enlightened and civilized nations of the earth, in
regard to this movement, it is now apparent that they
neither profess nor apprehend Christianity, and what-
ever may be the true judgment to form of their political
power, it can no longer be doubted that intercourse can-
not be established or maintained on terms of equality."
He sent the Secretary of State a full account of his
visit, which constitutes one of the most interesting con-
tributions to the voluminous literature on the Taiping
Rebellion.
The civil war was maintained with varying fortunes
until 1864, when Nankin was recaptured by the imperial
forces and the insurrection suddenly collapsed. Dr.
Martin, who was a resident of the country during the
entire movement, says that it would have succeeded
but for the foreign intervention in favor of the imperial
cause. The American government and its representa-
tives sought to maintain an attitude of strict neutrality,
but the sentiments of all the American ministers were
on the side of the established government, and the
French and English authorities at a critical period
rendered it open support. Dr. Martin is authority for
212 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the statement that after the occupation of Peking in
1860 by the allies, the emperor having fled to Tartary,
Lord Elgin, the British representative, thought seriously
of opening negotiations with the insurgent chief, but
was deterred by the opposition of Baron Gros, the
French envoy, who, adopting the views of the French
missionaries, was prejudiced against the insurgents be-
cause their religion was reported to be of a Protestant
type.1
Among the foreigners who lent their services to the
imperial cause during this rebellion was an American,
General Frederick T. Ward, born in Salem, Massachu-
setts. He organized, equipped, and drilled a body of
Chinese troops, officered by Americans and Europeans.
His successes were so great that his corps became known
as " The Ever Victorious Army," and its influence was
decisive in changing the entire aspect of the contest.
In the height of his career he was mortally wounded
while leading an attack upon a Taiping fortress. His
fame has been somewhat eclipsed by that of Colonel Gor-
don, of the British army, who at his death succeeded
to the command of his corps and carried forward to
1 For the views and reports of American ministers — Marshall, H. Ex.
Doc. 123, 33d Cong. 1st Sess. pp. 142, 184, 203, 265 ; McLane, S. Ex.
Doc. 22, 35th Cong. 2d Sess. pp. 47-111 ; S. Ex. Doc. 39, 36th Cong. 1st
Sess. p. 3 ; The Taiping Rebellion, by A. Egmont Hake, London, 1891 ;
The Chinese Revolution, by Charles Macfarlane, London, 1853 ; L'lnsur-
rection en Chine, Callery & Yvan, Paris, 1853, translation, London, 1853 ;
Martin's Cycle of Cathay, pt. i. chap. ix. ; Williams's Hist. China, chap,
v. ; A Short History of China, by D. C. Boulger, London, 1893, chap.
xx. ; China, by R. K. Douglas, London and New York, 1899, chap. xi. ;
Nevius's China, chap, xxvi.; N. A. Rev. July, 1854, p. 158.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 213
ultimate success the movement which had been organ-
ized by the daring and skill of Ward.1
Recurring to Minister Marshall's services, it is to be
noted that after remaining several months at Shanghai,
he returned to Canton, and again applied to Yeh for an
interview, was again met by an excuse and a declina-
tion, and finally left China without once having met
this official specially designated by the emperor to treat
with the foreign ministers. When in January, 1854,
he announced to Yeh his intention to return home, the
latter replied with perfect nonchalance, " I avail myself
of the occasion to present my compliments, and trust
that, of late, your blessings have been increasingly
tranquil."
A party change in the administration at Washington
brought about Mr. Marshall's recall. His service in
China covered a period of great interest and disorder
in that empire, and, although on this account he was
unable to accomplish much to advance the interests of
his country, he conducted its affairs with ability and
credit to himself and his government. He was a ready
and able writer, and his voluminous correspondence
with the Department of State, which has been published,
furnishes very interesting and profitable reading on
Chinese affairs.2
Upon the accession of Mr. Pierce to the presidency
in 1853, he nominated and commissioned as minister to
China Robert M. McLane, of Maryland, who was one
1 S. Ex. Doc. 34, 37th Cong. 3d Sess. 1, 3 ; Hake's Taiping Rebellion,
190 ; Martin's Cathay, 139.
2 H. Ex. Doc. 123, 33d Cong. 1st Sess. ; S. Ex. Doc. 39, 36th Cong. 1st
Sess. p. 3 ; N. A. Review, Oct. 1859, p. 483 ; Littell's Living Age, Oct.
1858, p. 384.
214 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
of the most accomplished diplomatic representatives of
the United States and had a long public career. In
order that he might not be subjected to the embarrass^
ments encountered by Mr. Marshall, the naval com-
mander on the Asiatic station was instructed to place
a national vessel at his disposal, and in such other ways
as was possible to second his efforts.
He arrived at Hongkong in March, 1854, where he
met his first disappointment, which unfortunately was
only the beginning of a series which attended him
throughout his mission. Anticipating his arrival, Dr.
Parker, the faithful secretary and charge of the legation
at Canton, had addressed the imperial high commis-
sioner, Yeh, informing him of the date of arrival of
the new minister, and stating that he would desire a
personal interview to deliver the letter of the President
addressed to the emperor. Yeh treated this request in
the same manner as that made by Mr. Marshall. In
his reply, after expressing his delight at learning of Mr.
McLane's arrival, he announced that he was very busy
and said, " Suffer me then to wait for a little leisure,
when I will make selection of a propitious day, that we
may have a pleasant meeting."
Mr. McLane was no less indignant than his prede-
cessor on the receipt of this " impertinent, if not inso-
lent" communication, as he termed it, and determined
to make no further application for an interview, but to
send Yeh a reply and " rebuke him for his discourtesy
and incivility." In forwarding a copy to Washington
he expressed the hope that Secretary Marcy would " find
it sufficiently pointed," as it assuredly was.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 215
There seemed nothing left for him to do but to
pursue much the same course of conduct as his pre-
decessor. Commodore Perry having placed at his dis-
posal the Susquehanna, one of the newest and best
vessels of the navy, he proceeded in her to the port of
Shanghai. He found the state of affairs there even
worse than on Mr. Marshall's visit the previous year.
The imperialists and Taipings were confronting each
other in and around the foreign settlement. The Chi-
nese city of Shanghai had been captured by the rebels,
and only the presence of the American, British, and
French war vessels prevented the foreign settlement
from being occupied by them. The foreign merchants
had refused to pay duties to the imperial government
on the goods imported which it could not protect, and
it was reported that the merchants were taking advan-
tage of the disordered situation to import large cargoes
without duty.
While at Shanghai Mr. McLane put himself in com-
munication with the viceroy E-liang, whose headquarters
were in the interior of the province, and was granted
an interview by him. Like Mr. Marshall, he was much
pleased with the reception accorded him, but in the
real business sought to be dispatched he was similarly
unsuccessful, and he declined under the circumstances
to intrust the President's letter to the hands of the
viceroy for transmission to the emperor.
After a stay of four months he returned to Hong-
kong. Here he conferred with Sir John Bo wring, the
British governor, whom he found in the same state of
mind as himself respecting Commissioner Yeh. During
216 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Mr. McLane's absence at Shanghai the governor had
sought to approach Yeh upon the subject of a revision
of the treaties, with a view to remedying the defects
which had been developed in those in force, and had
been met by evasion and a refusal to act. Mr. Mc-
Lane also conferred with the French minister, and the
three foreign representatives decided to act in concert
in bringing pressure to bear upon the Chinese govern-
ment to satisfy the existing grievances, and in so acting
the American minister was conforming to the spirit of
his instructions from the Secretary of State.
It was determined that if negotiations could not be
opened at Shanghai with a properly authorized repre-
sentative of the emperor, they would jointly go to the
mouth of the Peiho in men-of-war of their respective
nations, and there renew their demands on the imperial
court. And of this resolution they separately served
notice on Commissioner Yeh at Canton.
The three envoys arrived at Shanghai during the
month of September, 1854, and remained for a few
weeks hoping that they might be advised of the dis-
patch from Peking of plenipotentiaries empowered to
open negotiations, but they were disappointed. In
accordance with their plans, Sir John Bo wring, Mr.
McLane, and the French secretary of legation reached
the Peiho October 15, the French minister being de-
tained at Shanghai by an accident.
On their arrival they found that no steps had been
taken to send plenipotentiaries to meet them. After
some time consumed in conferences with the local au-
thorities and weeks lost in waiting, a commissioner
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 217
from the emperor finally arrived. He arranged to
receive the foreign envoys on the muddy banks of the
river in a miserable tent badly adapted for the purpose.
It was a shameful disregard of the courtesies so usual
with Chinese officials, and could only be interpreted as
a studied affront to the foreigners who had made them-
selves unwelcome guests.
When the conference was opened, the Chinese pleni-
potentiary confessed that he had no full powers or
authority to negotiate, and could only hear what the
foreign representatives had to say. Their object was to
secure a revision of the treaties, and they all rested
their claim upon a clause in the American treaty of
1844 which reads as follows : —
" Inasmuch as the circumstances of the several ports
of China open to foreign commerce are different, ex-
perience may show that inconsiderable modifications
are requisite in those ports which relate to commerce
and navigation; in which case the two governments
will, at the expiration of twelve years from the date
of said convention, treat amicably concerning* the same,
by the means of suitable persons appointed to conduct
such negotiations."
While the Chinese plenipotentiary stated that he had
no authority to negotiate, he took pains to inform the
British representative that he could not claim the
right to have his treaty revised because the American
treaty contained the clause cited; and he replied to
Mr. McLane that "the inconsiderable modifications"
referred to did not justify the revision for which he
contended. This was an answer worthy to emanate
218 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
from officials more experienced than the Chinese in
diplomacy, and which could not be well gainsaid from
the standpoint of international law. The result of the
conference was a failure, as it was not possible for the
ships to remain at that stormy season of the year until
an answer to the demands of the envoys could be
received from Peking, and no assurance was given
that these demands would be laid before the emperor.
Nothing was left for the representatives but to leave
the inhospitable shores of the Peiho and return to safer
anchorage and more genial climate at Shanghai and
Hongkong.
From Shanghai Mr. McLane sent full details of the
events at the Peiho to the Secretary of State and gave
a review of his futile efforts since his arrival in China
to lay before the authorities at Peking the complaints
of his government. He then submitted a recommen-
dation that the President embody in a letter to the
emperor the complaints which he had formulated and
the changes desired in the treaty ; and that this letter
be confided to a commissioner " supported by the
presence of the United States naval forces in the
Chinese seas, precisely as the letter of the President
was delivered to the emperor of Japan." He reported
that the British and French ministers had recommended
that a more decisive policy should be initiated, and it
was to be hoped that harmonious action would continue
to be maintained between the three governments. In a
later dispatch he continued to urge a new and a more
positive, " perhaps an aggressive, policy " on the part
of the Western nations towards China.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 219
The ten months which Mr. McLane had passed in
his active but vexatious duties had been very trying,
and exposure at Canton to the heat and malaria of the
tropics had brought on a fever, which so seriously
affected his health as to make it necessary for him to
ask for a leave of absence. Before taking his depar-
ture, however, he was enabled to bring to a conclusion
a matter which had greatly troubled the American mer-
chants at Shanghai. Mr. Marshall had decided that
they should pay to the imperial government the duties
uncollected and suspended during the paralysis of au-
thority while the rebels were attacking Shanghai. On
the arrival of the new minister a fresh representation
was made to him, with an agreement to abide by
his award. Mr. McLane decided that a considerable
amount of the sum in controversy should be paid to
the Chinese government, and it was accordingly done,
although the British merchants successfully resisted a
similar demand upon them. It is greatly to the credit
of the American minister's impartial rectitude that, in
the midst of his disappointment and ill treatment by
the authorities, he should have rendered a decision so
favorable to China; and it is likewise to the credit
of the American merchants that they should have
observed their obligations when those of other national-
ities refused.
In December, 1854, the legation was again intrusted
to Dr. Parker as charge, and Mr. McLane left his post
on sick leave. On his arrival at Paris he tendered his
resignation of a mission which had proved so unsatis-
V
220 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
factory in its results/ and returned to the United States
to receive new honors at home and to hold later the
missions to Mexico and Paris.
Dr. Parker conducted the affairs of the legation for
several months under very perplexing conditions. The
Taiping rebels were threatening Canton and the other
treaty ports. In the impotent state of the imperial
government, pirates multiplied, infested the coasts, and
imperiled foreign commerce in the treaty ports. In the
consequent disorganization of trade, smuggling greatly
increased, and a ready market was found for warlike
supplies. Both Ministers Marshall and McLane had
issued proclamations enjoining strict neutrality upon
Americans, and Dr. Parker exerted himself to enforce
these orders. He found that the American flag was
being abused through the negligence or bad faith of
consuls by its illegal transfer to Chinese or other for-
eign vessels. The shipping and registry regulations of
Great Britain made easy the transfer of its flag to such
vessels, which was forbidden under American law ; and
except through the connivance of consuls in authorizing
registry, American shipping was placed at a disadvan-
tage in these times of disorder. Claims by Americans
for injury to their property or business or for non-ob-
servance of their treaty rights, were also accumulating,
and the authorities were badly situated or indisposed
to give them satisfaction.
Twenty years' residence in China and the onerous
labors of his position so impaired his health that Dr.
1 For details of McLane's mission, S. Ex. Doc. 22, 35th Cong. 2d Sess. ;
S. Ex. Doc. 39, 36th Cong. 1st Sess. ; N. A. Review, Oct. 1859, pp. 487-504.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 221
Parker found it necessary to ask for a leave of absence,
and in May, 1855, he made a visit to the United States.
His intercourse with the authorities at Washington so
favorably impressed them with his intimate acquaint-
ance with Chinese affairs and with his ability, that, dis-
carding the prevailing rule of party preferment, he was
nominated full commissioner to China.
He returned to his post through Europe, and held
interviews in London and in Paris with the British and
French ministers for foreign affairs, in which there was
a free exchange of views as to the policy to be pur-
sued in China by the three maritime powers, and an
informal agreement reached that there should be co-
operation and harmony of action. Full reports of these
interviews were sent by him to the Secretary of State,
by whom his action was commended.
On his arrival at Canton in January, 1856, Dr.
Parker notified Yeh of his appointment as commis-
sioner and that he desired a personal interview to
deliver for transmission a letter from the President to
the emperor. To this application Yeh returned his
stereotyped reply that he was then too busy to grant
the interview. After conferring with his British and
French colleagues and determining upon uniform action
for a revision of the treaties, he again asked Yeh for
an interview, and being again refused, the amiable and
usually even-tempered minister could restrain his indig-
nation no longer. He addressed Yeh a communication
reviewing the latter' s conduct towards his predecessors,
who had in vain sought for interviews on important
business, and stated " that so sure as there is a sun in
222 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
heaven, so certainly is it that the day is near when it
will be endured no longer." He then gave him notice
of his intention to proceed to Peking for the purpose
of obtaining a revision of the treaty of 1844 and a
redress of the accumulated grievances. Similar notices
were given by the British and French representatives.
But the doctor was no more successful than Messrs.
Marshall and McLane in the execution of his indignant
resolution. He was delayed some time by the absence
of a naval vessel in reaching Shanghai. There his
hopes were raised by the promise of the local Chinese
authorities that they would bring about the opening
of negotiations. This promise was only made to be
broken, and then the season was too far advanced to
go to the Peiho ; besides, an adequate naval force was
not at hand for the purpose.
The chief result of his visit to the north was the
reception of an additional indignity to his government.
On his resentment of Yen's incivility Dr. Parker had
declined his offer to receive the President's letter, and
at Amoy he accepted the promise of the viceroy of
that province to transmit it. While at Shanghai the
letter was returned to him from Peking, with a state-
ment that it could only be received through the high
commissioner, Yeh, specially delegated by the emperor
to deal with foreign affairs. But when the autograph
letter of President Pierce addressed to the emperor was
redelivered to Dr. Parker the seals were broken.1
When he reached Hongkong on his return from
1 S. Ex. Doc. 22, 35th Cong. 2d Sess. pp. 495-984 ; Martin's Cathay,
146.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 223
Shanghai in November, 1856, he found that British pa-
tience with the Chinese authorities had been exhausted,
and that a state of flagrant war existed. The forts
which guarded the city of Canton had been captured,
and the city itself had been bombarded and entered by
the British forces.
The immediate event which brought on this second
war of Great Britain against China was the boarding
of the lorcha * Arrow in front of Canton by marines
from a Chinese war vessel, the seizing and carrying
away of the crew on charge of piracy, and hauling down
the British flag. The vessel was built and owned by a
Chinese, but had been registered as British and was
carrying the British flag. The term of registry had,
however, expired several days before the seizure and
had not been renewed.
Sir John Bowring,2 the governor of Hongkong and
diplomatic representative of Great Britain, made a de-
mand for the return of the seized sailors, an apology
for the act, and an assurance that the British flag should
be respected in future. Yeh ordered the release of the
sailors, although he stated that an investigation proved
nine of them to be guilty of piracy, but he declined to
make the apology demanded because he claimed the
1 Lorcha — a Portuguese term for a fast-sailing schooner.
2 Sir John Bowring, who was the active agent in bringing on the war,
was a noted man of his time, possessed of various accomplishments. He
was of peaceful inclinations, but of an impulsive temperament ; a pupil
and the literary executor of Jeremy Bentham ; for several years a mem-
ber of Parliament and an authority on commercial subjects ; of literary
tastes, a linguist having a mastery of more than forty languages ; and a
poet and hymnologist, best known as the author of the hymns " In the
Cross of Christ I glory," and " Watchman, tell us of the Night."
224 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
vessel was not a British ship. The governor's contention
was that although her registry had expired, she was en-
titled to protection ; besides, the Chinese did not know
of the expiry of the registry, and hence that the act was
none the less an outrage on the flag. Yeh was obsti-
nate in his refusal, and war followed.
The views of British statesmen and historians differ
greatly as to the merits of the war, but there is a gen-
eral concurrence of sentiment that the affair of the
Arrow was not of itself a sufficient justification for hos-
tilities. The matter is well stated by Lord Elgin in his
report to his government : " I think I have given to the
Arrow case as much prominence as it deserves, when I
represent it as the drop which has caused the cup to
overflow." But in his private journal he frankly refers
to " that wretched question of the Arrow, which is a
scandal to us, and is so considered, I have reason to
know, by all except the few who are personally com-
promised. It was merely the culmination of a series of
acts on the part of the Chinese which brought on the
hostilities, and was not of itself a just cause of war." 1
The origin of the " series of acts " referred to may, in
most cases, be found in the extensive system of smug-
gling of the East India Company's opium.
Although the government of the United States
did not think proper to follow the example of Great
1 For official reports relative to Arrow War see various British Par-
liamentary Blue Books, " China," 1856-60 ; 3 McCarthy's Hist, chaps,
xxx. and xlii. ; Boulger's Hist. chap. xix. ; Douglas's China, chap. ix. ;
Williams's Hist. chap. vi. ; Martin's Cathay, pt. i. chap. x. ; Nevius's
China, 301-12 ; N. A. Review, January, 1860, p. 125 ; S. Ex. Doc. 22,
35th Cong. 2d Sess. 984.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 225
Britain in its hostile action, it is to be noted that its suc-
cessive ministers, who were subjected to the insolence
of Yeh and the indifference of the Chinese government
to their repeated representations, expressed to their gov-
ernment the conviction that the only way to secure re-
spect and justice from the Chinese was by a manifesta-
tion of force. Mr. Marshall wrote the Secretary of
State that " the Chinese government . . . concedes
justice only in the presence of a force able and willing
to exact it." Mr. McLane, referring to his troubles
with Yeh, reported that " diplomatic intercourse can
only be had with this government at the cannon's
mouth." The peaceful Dr. Parker was so aroused by
the many indignities shown to his government that he
strongly favored an alliance of the United States with
Great Britain in the war.1
Following close upon the affair of the lorcha Arrow,
an event occurred which for the moment seemed des-
tined to bring the United States into a union with
Great Britain in the war upon which it had entered.
While proceeding in a boat from the United States
squadron in the lower river to Canton, Captain Foote
was fired upon from the Chinese forts, and the day
after a surveying party from the squadron was also fired
upon and one of its members killed. In both instances
the American flag was prominently displayed. For
these acts Commodore Armstrong determined upon
summary punishment. November 16, 1856, the day of
the second firing on the flag, he sent the Portsmouth,
1 H. Ex. Doc. 123, 33d Cong. 1st Sess. 11 ; S. Ex. Doc. 22 (cited),
22, 1083.
226 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
under command of Captain Foote, afterwards distin-
guished in the Civil War, to attack the forts from
which the firing on the boats had occurred, and they
were soon silenced.
On the next day the commodore addressed a note to
Commissioner Yeh, demanding an explanation and a
suitable apology within twenty-four hours. Before the
time had expired, however, seeing active work progress-
ing towards the restoration of the damaged forts, the
commodore ordered another attack, and the forts were
taken by assault and destroyed. Seven Americans were
killed and twenty-two wounded, while the loss of the
Chinese was reported at three hundred. A communi-
cation from Yeh was received before the second attack
was made, but it proved to be of an unsatisfactory
nature ; and further correspondence followed. Yeh
claimed that, in view of the hostilities conducted by the
British at and in the vicinity of Canton, boats of other
nationalities ought to keep away from the scene of war,
and that mistakes as to flags would not then occur.
But the severe punishment which had been inflicted
upon the Chinese forts did not seem to have given him
much offense, for he finally wrote the commodore,
" There is no matter of strife between our two nations.
Henceforth let the fashion of the flag which American
ships employ be clearly defined, and inform me what it
is beforehand. This will be a verification of the friendly
relations between our countries." Of such little impor-
tance was the affair in the mind of this oriental dignitary.
Yen's letter ended the correspondence, and the at-
tack of the American navy on the Barrier forts was a
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 227
closed incident. It was the only act of warlike violence
by American authorities on the Chinese till a half cen-
tury afterwards, when a division of the army of the
United States marched to the relief of its beleaguered
minister and citizens at Peking. Such a prompt and
peaceful settlement was a disappointment to the Brit-
ish, as they earnestly desired the cooperation of the
United States in the campaign which they were prepar-
ing against the Chinese.1
The government at Washington saw no occasion to
give further attention to the engagement between the
navy and the Barrier forts, but certain occurrences in
connection with the bombardment of Canton by the
British seemed to call for farther inquiry. The press
accounts of that affair reported that the American con-
suls at Canton and Hongkong were both present at the
assault and participated in it, and that the latter headed
a body of United States marines carrying the American
flag. The charge was likewise made by Commissioner
Yeh. Secretary Marcy strongly condemned any viola-
tion of the neutral attitude of the United States, and
ordered Minister Parker to make a thorough investiga-
tion, authorizing him, in case the charge against the
consul at Hongkong was well founded, to remove the
latter from his post.
The consul at Canton in his official report says that
on entering the city half an hour after the walls were
carried, " I found the English in full possession of the
place — the officers, the soldiers, and the sailors helping
* S. Ex. Doc. 22 (cited), 1020, 1042 ; N. A. Review, Oct. 1859, p. 512 ;
Harper's Mag. Oct. 1898, p. 741.
228 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
themselves to what they pleased. I met his excellency,
Admiral Seymour, within the palace, who kindly gave
me permission to take a few articles as mementos of
the occurrence of the day." It seems that looting
of Chinese palaces was practiced long before the occu-
pation of Peking in the year 1900, and that the prac-
tice was demoralizing to even a neutral consul. Both
he and the consul at Hongkong protested their inno-
cence of any violation of their neutral duties, alleging
that their presence was induced merely by curiosity, and
the latter stoutly denied that he was responsible for the
presence of the American flag. It appears that the
national emblem was within the walls and in the hands
of an American marine, but not authorized by any offi-
cer of the government. The investigation failed to es-
tablish any violation of neutral duty, but showed that
the sympathies of the American colony were plainly
with their kinsmen.1
The British preparations for the campaign which had
been resolved upon, to bring the Chinese government
to terms respecting a revision of the treaties and a re-
dress of grievances, was delayed for a full year, on ac-
count of the Sepoy revolt in India. In the mean time
the foreign factories (mercantile establishments) at Can-
ton were destroyed by fire, and commerce was sus-
pended. Dr. Parker was busily occupied in his efforts
to protect American interests in this time of disorder,
and in seeking to induce the Chinese authorities to give
attention and satisfaction to American demands. He
felt that the British were pursuing the only policy
i S. Ex. Doc. 22 (cited), 1048, 1319, 1383 ; N. A. Rev. Oct. 1859, pp.
508-11.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 229
which would bring the imperial government to terms,
and he strongly recommended to the Secretary of State
that the United States should cooperate with the allies
in the policy determined upon, France having definitely
resolved to participate with Great Britain in the pro-
posed military expedition. Dr. Parker suggested that
an active campaign might be avoided, and China
brought to accept the demands of the powers by the
temporary occupation by them of different portions of
territory. His plan was that France should take pos-
session of Korea, Great Britain of Chusan, and the
United States of the island of Formosa, and hold them
as hostages till a satisfactory settlement of all questions
was attained. At this day such a scheme seems quite
visionary and impracticable, but it was known to Parker
that only three years before Commodore Perry had
made a similar recommendation respecting the Lew Chew
Islands in connection with the Japanese negotiations.
But such schemes did not in any way harmonize with
the peaceful policy at Washington. Not even could
the daring act of the navy in destroying the Barrier
forts to avenge the insults to the flag disturb the equa-
nimity of the government. Secretary Marcy wrote
Dr. Parker that the President very much doubted
whether there was sufficient justification for such a
severe measure, and thus stated his views : " The
British government evidently have objects beyond those
contemplated by the United States, and we ought not
to be drawn along with it, however anxious it may be
for our cooperation. The President sincerely hopes
that you, as well as our naval commander, will be able
230 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
to do all that is required for the defense of American
citizens and the protection of their property, without
being included in the British quarrel, or producing any-
serious disturbance in our amicable relations with
China." Such instructions were so contrary to the
views of the minister that it was well that their execu-
tion should be intrusted to a new representative.
A change of administration had occurred on March
4, 1857, and a month later a new minister to China was
appointed. This action was not taken because of any
dissatisfaction with the incumbent, but it appears to
have been brought about by the exigencies of domestic
politics.1 Dr. Parker retired from his post in August,
and returned to the United States, thus ending a long
and useful career in China. He made his residence in
Washington up to the time of his death in 1888, and
was active in scientific and religious circles. Hon. Hugh
McCulloch, secretary of the treasury under three presi-
dents, who enjoyed his society and friendship in these
later years, says : " No man can look back upon a long
life with greater satisfaction than Dr. Parker. No for-
, eigner had better opportunities than he of becoming
acquainted with the Chinese, their habits, and the char-
acter of their government ; and no one could have used
these opportunities to greater advantage, both to China
and to the United States." 2
1 S. Ex. Doc. 22 (cited), 1083-1278; S. Ex. Doc. 30, 36th Cong. 1st
Sess. p. 3. In giving his instructions to the new minister, the Secretary
of State wrote : " This change is not intended to cause the slightest cen-
sure upon him [Parker]. He has discharged his duties with zeal and
fidelity, and is entitled to the thanks of the government."
a Martin's Cathay, 27; Speer's China, 421; LittelFs Living Age, Oct.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 231
The successor of Dr. Parker, William B. Reed, of
Pennsylvania, secured his appointment mainly because
of political considerations, having supported the election
of Mr. Buchanan to the presidency, although of the
opposite party. He was, however, a lawyer of consid-
erable prominence, and proved in most respects fitted
for his difficult duties. The title of the American repre-
sentative in China had heretofore been that of commis-
sioner, — a somewhat anomalous grade in diplomacy.
In order to give Mr. Reed all the dignity and influence
which might accrue from his rank, he was commissioned
as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary.
In view of the threatening state of affairs in China,
with England and France joined in hostilities against
the empire, his instructions were prepared with much
care, and set forth the attitude of the United States
with precision. The objects which it was understood
the allies had in view were enumerated, and stated to
be in accord with those desired by the United States.
These were, first, the residence of foreign ministers at
Peking, reception by the emperor, and intercourse with
an accredited ministry of foreign affairs ; second, an
extension of commercial intercourse and a better regu-
lation of the internal tariff on imports ; third, religious
freedom for foreigners ; and fourth, measures for better
observance of treaty stipulations. The minister was
directed to cooperate by peaceful means with England
and France to secure these ends, but to confine his
efforts to firm representations and appeals to the justice
1859, p. 384; Men and Measures of Half a Century, by H. McCulloch,
New York, 1888, p. 265.
232 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
and policy of the Chinese authorities. He was reminded
that his country was not at war with China, and sought
only to enter that empire for lawful commerce.
With these instructions was inclosed a copy of corre-
spondence had with the British government, in response
to an invitation of the allies to join in their hostile ex-
pedition. In it attention was called to the fact that the
executive branch of the government of the United States
was not the war-making power, that military expeditions
into Chinese territory could not be undertaken without
the authority of Congress, and that the relations of the
United States with that country, in the judgment of the
President, did not then warrant a resort to war. The
policy of the United States was one of peace ; it had
no political views connected Vith that empire ; and,
owing to the difference in manners and traits of national
character, true wisdom seemed to dictate moderation, dis-
cretion, and the work of time in the attempts to open
China to trade and intercourse.
When Mr. Reed arrived in Hongkong, November,
1857, he found the allies almost ready to begin hostile
operations. Lord Elgin, — a British statesman of noble
family and large political experience, — returning from
a successful term as governor-general of Canada, had
been assigned by his government to the political man-
agement of the campaign, and with him was associated
as the French representative Baron Gros, a diplomat of
high reputation. Upon making known to the allies the
tenor of his instructions, Mr. Reed reports their surprise
and disappointment, as they had been " encouraged in
the most extravagant expectation of cooperation on our
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 233
part, to the extent even of acquisition of territory/ ' and
that the English were especially " irritable ... at their
inability to involve the United States in their unworthy
quarrel." But he states later that Lord Elgin had not
at that time been informed of the character of the reply
to the invitation to join the allies, and that after its
receipt their relations were more cordial.
The first duty of Mr. Reed was to seek an interview
with the imperial commissioner Yeh and make an effort
to open negotiations for treaty revision ; but he was
doomed to the fate of his predecessors. This polite
but obstinate official, " on hearing that an officer of the
highest fame and reputation with such kindly feelings "
had reached China, " was extremely desirous of having
an interview,,, but since the destruction of the suburbs
by the British " there is really no place where to hold
it." As to negotiations, there was no occasion for
them, as the existing treaty was satisfactory and bene-
ficial, and did not require alteration. Thus the minister
was informed that the especially designated diplomatic
representative of the emperor could not meet him, nor
would he consider with him the business of his mission.
The blow which the allies had been preparing fell
upon Canton in December, 1857. It was a second time
captured and sacked. Yeh was made a prisoner and
sent to Calcutta, where he died within a few weeks after
his arrival. This official had established an unenviable
reputation for incivility, obduracy, and hatred of for-
eigners, and upon him had been placed the responsi-
bility for the unsatisfactory condition of international
relations. But at the capture of Canton the documents
234 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
which fell into the hands of the allies revealed the fact
that his conduct had been directed from Peking, and
that the imperial court was responsible for his refusal
to open negotiations for treaty revision or the redress
of grievances. Among those documents were also
found the Chinese originals of the British, American,
and French treaties of 1842 and 1844, and from this
fact it was inferred that they had never been sent to
Peking nor their terms known to the emperor ; but
this was afterwards shown to be incorrect, as they had
been officially published by the court.
After the fall of Canton, the allies announced a dispo-
sition to forego further hostile operations, if the Chinese
government would appoint plenipotentiaries and open
negotiations for a revision of the treaties. Meanwhile
a Eussian minister had reached Hongkong, after an
unsuccessful effort to communicate with the emperor
by way of the Peiho. His instructions were similar to
those of the United States minister, — to press nego-
tiations upon the Chinese, but by peaceful methods
only. Mr. Reed, after his cavalier treatment by Yeh,
and after a brief experience in Chinese affairs, was led
to the same conviction as his predecessors, — that only
1 coercive measures would be effective in bringing the
imperial government to terms. In his review of the
situation to the Secretary of State he said : " I do not
hesitate to say that a new policy towards China ought
to be . . . initiated, and that the powers of Western
civilization must insist on what they know to be their
rights, and give up the dream of dealing with China as
a power to which any ordinary rules apply." And a
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 235
month later he wrote that nothing short of an actual
approach to Peking " with a decisive tone and available
force " would produce a result. Referring to the peace-
ful attitude of the United States, he adds : " Steadfast
neutrality and consistent friendship make no impression
on the isolated obduracy of this empire."
In this frame of mind the American minister found
no difficulty in uniting with the British and French
representatives in identic notes to Peking, in which a
request was made for the appointment of plenipoten-
tiaries to meet the foreign representatives at Shanghai
to negotiate for a revision of the treaties, with a notice
that if such action was not taken, they would feel it
their duty to approach still nearer to the capital to press
their demand. The Russian minister likewise took the
same course.
Mr. Reed informed the Secretary of State that, in
case of refusal to negotiate at Shanghai, the powers
would jointly proceed to the mouth of the Peiho.
" This," he says, " will be made the most imposing ap-
peal that has ever been addressed by the Western powers
to the sense of justice and policy of the Imperial court."
He then submits for the consideration of the President
" the possible alternative of a persistent and contemptu-
ous refusal to entertain any friendly proposition to
afford redress for injuries, or to revise the treaty; " and
he asks to be invested with power to exercise the neces-
sary coercion to bring the court to terms. Secretary
Cass replied approving of the minister's course in join-
ing with the powers in their representations to Peking,
but he again refers to his instructions, and states that,
236 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE OKIENT
although the United States has serious cause of com-
plaint against China, it has not been thought wise to
seek redress by a resort to arms. This alternative may
yet be forced upon us, he says ; but when the exigency
comes, the President will have to ask Congress for au-
thority, and he was not then prepared to make such
request.
In accordance with their agreement the foreign en-
voys met at Shanghai in April, 1858, and there re-
ceived the answer from Peking, denying their right to
have direct communication with the court and referring
them to the commissioner at Canton who had been
appointed to succeed Yeh. Mr. Reed characterized
this reply as similar to those given by Yeh ; ," the same
unmeaning profession, the same dexterous sophistry;
and, what is more material, the same passive resistance ;
the same stolid refusal to yield any point of substance."
The envoys, therefore, lost no time in carrying out
their resolution to proceed to the Peiho, in order to
reach there early in the season.
The British and French envoys were accompanied
by the fleets and forces which had participated in the
warlike operations against Canton, but the American
and Russian ministers went, each in a single vessel.
Mr. Reed advised the Secretary that "if hostilities
recommence, obeying the spirit and letter of my instruc-
tions, I shall continue a passive spectator," waiting
instructions from home. He reported that the Russian
minister, also, had "positive instructions to abstain
strictly from any measures of hostility, except in case
of extremity."
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 237
On the arrival of the envoys at the mouth of the
Peiho, they found no one authorized to open negotia-
tions, and the four ministers sent identic notes to
Peking, asking for the appointment within six days of
plenipotentiaries. Before the expiration of the period
named, a notice was received by all the envoys that
a special commissioner had been appointed by the
emperor to open negotiations and that he was ready
to meet them. The communications were not properly
addressed, and the British and French refused to re-
ceive them, but the American minister, treating the one
received by him as a clerical error, sent it back for cor-
rection, which was readily made. He and the Eussian
minister proceeded to open negotiations with the Chi-
nese commissioner, but the British and French, find-
ing that he did not possess " full powers " to make a
treaty, but only to negotiate and report the result of
his action to Peking, declined to treat with him. They
maintained that the appointment was in line with the
past policy of evasion and delay, and the documents
which had been captured at Canton seemed to warrant
their conclusion. At a later date, Mr. Reed, after
being made fully acquainted with the tenor of these
documents, said they justified the coercive policy pur-
sued by the allies at the Peiho and Tientsin.
The commissioner's powers not being enlarged, the
British and French allies decided to proceed to Tientsin
and there renew their request for a commissioner with
full powers. Accordingly a demand was made for the
surrender of the Taku forts, at the mouth of the Peiho,
in order that a secure passage might be had to Tientsin.
238 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
This demand being refused, the forts were taken by
assault, after a spirited resistance, and the British and
French admirals and envoys ascended the Peiho to
Tientsin without further opposition. They were at
once followed by the American and Russian ministers.
The imperial court, now thoroughly alarmed by the
determined action of the allies, made haste to appoint
commissioners bearing full authority to make and
sign treaties. And the work of negotiation went on
apace. With the fleets and armies of the allies in their
immediate presence, and the American and Russian
representatives pressing their demands, the Chinese
plenipotentiaries were at last awakened to the necessity
of prompt and decisive action. Within a week after
the negotiations were begun the Russian treaty was
signed, the American soon followed, and the British
and French were concluded within three weeks.
The Chinese commissioners proposed that the nego-
tiations be conducted in the presence of all the foreign
representatives, but there were obvious objections to
this method, and they were carried on separately with
each minister. The British and French envoys went in
great state, with large and brilliant escorts as befitted
their warlike surroundings, to meet the Chinese pleni-
potentiaries ) but the American and Russian ministers
visited them only with their secretaries and a small
escort of sailors. The Chinese commissioners, it is
reported, were men of dignified bearing and their
whole tone and deportment were very striking.
Mr. Reed was assisted in his negotiations by Dr. S.
Wells Williams, who had taken so prominent a part
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 239
in Commodore Perry's negotiations in Japan, and be-
came secretary of legation upon the promotion of Dr.
Parker ; and also by Dr. W. A. P. Martin, a Presbyte-
rian missionary, who was familiar with the Mandarin
dialect, and who filled an important role in later Chi-
nese affairs* Dr. Martin's early acquaintance with the
dialect and his frank manners soon won the confidence
of the Chinese. In one of the treaty interviews he
presented to one of the commissioners an almanac in
Chinese compiled by the missionaries, containing a
variety of matter. At the next conference the com-
missioner pointed in the publication to the tenth com-
mandment forbidding to covet, and begged him to
circulate such tracts freely among the English, to lead
them to observe it in their intercourse with the Chi-
nese.
When the negotiations were about to be entered
upon, there appeared upon the scene Kiying, the Chi-
nese plenipotentiary in the negotiation of the British
treaty of 1842, that with Mr. Cushing and with the
French of 1844, and who was for several years the best
known statesman of the empire. He had fallen into
disgrace for agreeing to these treaties and for his sup-
posed friendliness to foreigners. The decree of the
emperor by which he was degraded in 1850 is a curious
exhibition of the spirit of the government: "As for
Kiying, his unpatriotic and pusillanimous conduct is to
us a matter of unmixed astonishment. When he was
at Canton he seemed only anxious to make our people
serve the interests of foreigners. Recently, during a
private audience, he spoke to us of the English, how
240 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
greatly they were to be dreaded, urging a mild and
conciliatory policy. . . . The more he speaks the more
does he expose himself, so that at the last we have
come to entertain for him the same contempt we feel
for a yelping cur."
He had doubtless taken advantage of the panic
created at court by the advance of the allies to Tien-
tsin, and sought to reinstate himself in favor by mak-
ing the emperor believe he could be of special service
with the foreigners, and he was given an independent
commission to treat with the envoys. His true charac-
ter of duplicity and untruthfulness had been revealed
to the allies by the documents captured at Canton,
and they refused to receive him. The American and
Russian ministers, however, out of regard for his past
services, his old age, and misfortunes, received and
returned his visit, but held no negotiations with him.
He suddenly disappeared from Tientsin, and on his
return to Peking there was sent him a silken scarf from
the emperor's hand, " in Our extreme desire to be at
once just and gracious," which was the imperial indica-
tion that he would be permitted to save his family from
any stain of disgrace by putting an end to his own life
by strangulation, in lieu of his decapitation by the
executioner. And thus disappeared from the stage of
public affairs the most prominent Chinese statesman
of his generation.
There are some indications in the official documents
of a certain degree of friction between the envoys of
the allies and the two neutral ministers, and the con-
temporaneous accounts speak of the jealousy of the
/jfrAM
/ftM*^
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 241
latter entertained by the former. But happily the
rough places in their intercourse were smoothed over,
and at the end of the negotiations a friendly and some-
what cordial relation was resumed. Dr. Williams, the
American secretary, in his private diary, refers to the
disposition of Baron Gros to be less exacting than Lord
Elgin, and to the Russian constantly watching the
allies, greatly to the annoyance of the British earl, and
he sums up the situation as follows : " The position of
the four ministers here is, indeed, something like that
of four whist players, each of whom makes an infer-
ence as to the other's remaining suits and honors from
the cards they throw down. Now, of course the Rus-
sian and American are partners, but if the Englishman
were more bon homme and open he might readily have
the Yankee to his aid against the others if there was
any need of that kind."
First in order of signature was the Russian treaty
and the American was signed a few days afterwards,
but the British negotiations dragged and the French
envoy, out of deference to his ally, deferred the sign-
ing of his convention. The British were pushing de-
mands not insisted upon by the other powers, and they
could only be obtained by coercive measures. The re-
ports in the Blue Books and the London newspapers
show that Mr. Lay, who personally conducted the nego-
tiations for Lord Elgin, when he found the Chinese
commissioners obdurate, was accustomed " to raise his
voice," charge them with having " violated their pledged
word," and threaten them with Lord Elgin's displeasure
and the march of the British troops to Peking. And
242 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
when this failed to bring them to terms a strong de-
tachment of the British army was marched through
Tientsin to strike terror into its officials and inhabit-
ants. Lord Elgin in his diary records the climax of
these demonstrations : " I have not written for some
days, but they have been busy ones. We went on
fighting and bullying, and getting the poor commis-
sioners to concede one point after another, till Friday
the 25th." The next day the treaty was signed, and
he closes the record as follows : " Though I have been
forced to act almost brutally, I am China's friend in all
this." There can be no doubt that notwithstanding
the seeming paradox, Lord Elgin was thoroughly sin-
cere in this declaration, and that his entire conduct was
influenced by a high sense of duty and by what he
regarded as the best interests of China.
The four treaties, negotiated separately, have a gen-
eral similarity in their stipulations, and as each con-
tains the " most favored nation " clause, the special
stipulations of any became effective for all the powers.
The important features of the treaties of Tientsin of
1858 over those of 1842 and 1844 were the conces-
sions, first, as to diplomatic privileges, second, as to
enlarged trade and travel, and third, as to religious toler-
ation. Direct means of access to the government were
provided, and the right of visit and residence of diplo-
matic representatives at Peking was secured. The
stipulations as to trade, travel, residence, ownership of
property, duties, etc., which had proved so defective or
inefficiently enforced under the earlier treaties, were
enlarged and made more specific in their terms.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 243
The provision guaranteeing the toleration of Chris-
tianity and the protection of Chinese converts was an
unexpected success. The French envoy was interested
in securing greater immunity to Catholic missionaries,
who were all under French protection, but the Ameri-
can and British ministers did not expect to go beyond
securing religious liberty to their own countrymen in
China. Dr. Martin says that Mr. Eeed was indifferent
to the subject, and he states that this article, " now the
chief glory of the treaty," was suggested and success-
fully pressed by Dr. Williams. At the close of the
latter' s long career, the Secretary of State, in accepting
his resignation, wrote : " Above all, the Christian world
will not forget that to you more than to any other
man is due the insertion in our treaty with China of
the liberal provision for the toleration of the Christian
religion."
After the signature of the treaties the envoys re-
turned to Shanghai, and there negotiated trade regula-
tions and a revision of the tariff. Mr. Reed likewise
agreed with the Chinese plenipotentiaries upon a con-
vention for the settlement of the claims of American
citizens against China, and thereby brought to a con-
clusion a subject which had received the attention of
the two preceding ministers. It was agreed to accept
in satisfaction of these claims the lump sum of 500,000
taels, the equivalent of $735,288, which was consider-
ably less than the total amount of the claims urged
upon the Chinese government.
For the adjudication of these claims a commission of
American citizens was appointed, and they were all
244 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
examined and passed upon in China. The greater por-
tion of theni had their origin in the loss of property
occasioned by the British hostilities at and in the vicin-
ity of Canton, and many of those allowed were of ques-
tionable validity in international law. After all the
claims awarded had been paid, and a considerable
amount which was rejected by the commission had been
allowed by Congress, there still remained a large por-
tion of the fund in the treasury of the United States.
In 1885, Congress, responding to the sense of justice
and fair dealing of the American people, authorized the
President to return the balance in the treasury to China,
and the sum of $453,400 was paid over to the Chinese
minister at Washington, and by him received with
" feelings of kindness and admiration " on behalf of
his government.
Upon the conclusion of the claims convention, Mr.
Eeed proceeded to Hongkong, and there being informed
by the Department of State of the acceptance of his
resignation, which he had tendered on the conclusion of
his labors at Tientsin, he placed the legation in charge
of the secretary, Dr. Williams, and in December, 1858,
returned to the United States. Soon after his arrival
at his home in Philadelphia, he delivered a public ad-
dress, reviewing his work in China, in the course of
which he made some criticism of his foreign colleagues.
It was an indiscretion which has been committed by
other returning American ministers, but is none the
less censurable. In most other respects his services in
an important epoch in the relations of the United States
with China have been deservedly commended.1
1 S. Ex. Doc. 47, 35th Cong. 1st Sess. ; S. Ex. Doc. 30, 36th Cong. 1st
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 245
One of the few messages which passed over the At-
lantic cable of 1858 before its connection was broken
was the news of peace with China and the signature of
the treaties at Tientsin, which seemed to secure satisfac-
tory relations with that empire for the future. But
the sequel proved that these were vain hopes, as the
Chinese were doomed to greater humiliation and pun-
ishment before they would consent to place their gov-
ernment upon an equal footing with the other powers
of the world.
The successor of Mr. Reed was John E. Ward, of
Georgia, a lawyer by education, little known outside of
his own State before his appointment except as presid-
ing officer of the convention which nominated Buchanan
for the presidency, and without diplomatic experience.
When he arrived at Hongkong in May, 1859, he found
a British minister at that place and a French minister
at Macao, who had been recently appointed to exchange
the ratifications of their treaties and take up their resi-
dence at Peking. Mr. Ward's instructions from Wash-
ington were likewise to proceed to Peking and exchange
ratifications of the American treaty. Upon reaching
Hongkong he sent each of these ministers a letter noti-
fying them of his appointment and arrival, and as soon
as the Powhatan, the naval vessel assigned to his use,
Sess. 1-541 ; Williams's Life and Letters, chaps, vii. and viii.; Williams's
Hist, of China, chap, vi.; Martin's Cathay, pt. i. chaps, x. and xi.; N. A.
Rev. Oct. 1859, p. 518 ; Jan. 1860, p. 125 ; Littell's Liv. Age, Oct. 1858,
p. 383 ; Walroud's Life and Letters of Lord Elgin, 252. As to claims,
Ex. Doc. 30 (cited), 12, 101, 521 ; H. Ex. Doc. 20, 40th Cong. 3d Sess. ;
U. S. For. Rel. 1885, p. 183. For text of treaty of 1858, U. S. Treaties
(ed. 1889), 159.
246 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
was ready, he set out for Peking by way of the Peiho,
without waiting for his British and French colleagues.
Hearing, however, that the Chinese commissioners
who had negotiated the treaties of Tientsin were at
Shanghai, he called at that port to confer with them.
He learned from them that they had been designated to
exchange ratifications, and they desired him to await
the arrival of the other ministers and proceed with the
latter to Peking, where all the treaties would be ex-
changed at the same time. No place had been named
in the American treaty for its exchange, but Peking
was fixed in the other three. As the treaties were
at Peking, and the time within which the American
treaty was to be exchanged was about to expire, Mr.
Ward was forced to comply with the commissioners'
request.
The three envoys reached the mouth of the Peiho
about the same time, the British and French being es-
corted by a considerable naval force, the American only
having the vessel, which brought him, and a light-
draught chartered steamer, with which to cross the bar
and ascend the Peiho. The Russian treaty had already
been exchanged and its minister established at Peking.
The mouth of the Peiho was found to be closed by ob-
structions, and orders were given to allow no foreign
vessel to enter the river or ascend to Tientsin. The
commander of the British squadron informed Mr. Ward
that unless the obstructions were removed he would
proceed to destroy them and the Taku forts, and open
by force the way for his minister to Peking. Mr.
Ward, desiring to communicate with the authorities,
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 247
and also, if possible, to prevent another outbreak of
hostilities, crossed the bar in company with Commodore
Tatnall of the Powhatan in the small steamer Toeywan.
Before he could communicate with the shore the Toey-
wan grounded. The British admiral, seeing the steamer
was placed in the immediate locality of the prospective
hostilities, sent a steam tug to her relief and sought in
vain to get her afloat. Drs. Williams and Martin, secre-
tary and interpreter of the legation, went on shore in a
small boat and were informed that no one would be
permitted to ascend the river, but that the governor-
general of the province would meet the envoys at the
north entrance of the river, about ten miles away.
The next day Admiral Hope, the British commander 9
advanced to the bar with the intention of removing the
obstructions from the river, when he was fired upon by
the Taku forts. A general engagement followed be-
tween the forts and the British and French forces, re-
sulting in the complete repulse of the allies with heavy
loss of vessels and men. They were overwhelmed with
surprise at the effective defense of the Chinese, who
had evidently profited by the experience of the engage-
ment the year before.
The American minister and commodore were enforced
witnesses of the contest. The little steamer on which
they were had been floated off by the tide, but could
not pass through the line of battle. In the midst of
the conflict Commodore Tatnall, hearing that Admiral
Hope was dangerously wounded and his vessel disabled,
hastened with a boat's crew, as the minister reports,
" not to assist him in the fight, but to give his sympa-
248 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
thy to a wounded brother officer whom he saw about to
suffer a most mortifying and unexpected defeat." Tat-
nall's coxswain was killed at his side in the passage,
and although the visit was intended to be one only of
sympathy, his boat's crew, finding only three men on
the admiral's ship able for duty, while the commodore
tendered his sympathy to the admiral, assisted in work-
ing the guns.
In addition to this, the commodore, in his enthusiasm,
used his steamer to tow into the engagement several
barges loaded with British marines which could not
make head against the wind and tide. Besides, the
steamer was of service in rescuing the wounded and
taking them outside of the line of fire. Tatnall's de-
fense of his conduct was that " blood was thicker than
water ; " that he could not refrain from aid when kins-
men were in distress ; and that he was only reciprocat-
ing the kindness of the admiral of the day before in
sending his tug to draw his vessel off the bar. The
commodore's gallant conduct made him famous, but
Mr. Ward soon felt the influence of it in his intercourse
with the Chinese officials.
The allied forces, after their unexpected defeat, with-
drew to Shanghai. The English and French ministers
broke off all negotiations, and " were exceedingly anx-
ious " that Mr. Ward should likewise do so. But he
said to the Secretary of State : " The path of my duty
seems to me to be very plain. I arrived here with the
English and French ministers, not as an ally, but because
the Chinese commissioners insisted on my coming with
them ; " that on his arrival at Hongkong he left there
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 249
immediately, to avoid complications with other powers ;
and that he thought he should continue to seek to carry
out his instructions to proceed to Peking and exchange
ratifications of the treaty.
Accordingly he went to the place designated for his
meeting with the governor-general, was received by him
" with every demonstration of respect/' and informed
by that official that he was directed by the emperor to
escort him to Peking. Without much delay he and his
suite of thirty persons were conducted to the capital.
Dr. Martin records : " We were the guests of the em-
peror, and our wants were provided for with imperial
munificence.' ' The minister was met by the treaty
commissioners, whom he had left at Shanghai, and in
the first conference with them he was told " that an
interview with his Majesty the Emperor was absolutely
necessary before any other business could be transacted
in the capital," and that he would have " to practice
the rites and ceremonies necessary to be observed for
several days before the audience could take place."
Thereupon a long discussion ensued, continuing through
two weeks, as to the manner of conducting this audi-
ence. The Chinese commissioners first insisted that
Mr. Ward should observe the universal custom at court
and perform the kotou, or prostration, before the em-
peror, and when met by an indignant and absolute
refusal, they offered to waive that ceremony if he would
kneel on both knees, but finally expressed a willingness
to accept an obeisance on one knee from the American
minister. This matter had been the subject of discus-
sion between Lord Elgin and the Chinese at Tientsin,
250 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
and while the noble lord had stoutly refused to fall
upon both knees in presence of his Celestial Majesty,
he had consented to bow on one knee, and this fact
was urged upon the American envoy. But Mr. Ward
was obdurate ; in the spirit of the Southern cavalier he
answered, " I kneel only to God and woman." " The
emperor," rejoined the Chinese, "is the same as God."
The republican representative was not convinced, and
he said that he would do only that which was required
by the President of his own country in receiving foreign
ministers ; he would bow respectfully, and do nothing
more.
It seems strange at this day that a discussion of this
character should be prolonged through weeks, and in
the end result in the dismissal from the capital of the
representative of a great nation, but the question was
regarded by the Chinese as one of supreme importance.
Their ruler was in their eyes of divine origin and au-
thority, and the ceremony of prostration in his presence
had been practiced for countless ages as an act not only
of respect but of worship, and of recognition of his
exaltation above all earthly powers. Lord Elgin wrote
the British government that to disregard the ancient
customs, " in the opinion of the Chinese, would shake
the stability of the empire, by impairing the emperor's
prestige." It would do great violence to the education
and national pride of the court councilors to agree to
forego the kotou, and it was regarded by them as a
great concession, a mark of gracious condescension, and
the highest evidence of friendship, to admit the Amer-
ican minister into the emperor's presence with the sim-
ple act of an obeisance upon one knee.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 251
No agreement could be reached as to the audience,
and Mr. Ward was told that consequently no other
business could be transacted at the capital. He claimed
that, as the British treaty provided for the exchange of
its ratifications at Peking, under the most favored nation
treatment he was entitled to have the American treaty
exchanged there also. But the Chinese answered that
the British treaty was not yet in force, and hence its
privileges could not be availed of by other powers.
As the American treaty was silent respecting the place
of exchange, Mr. Ward was forced to accept the Chinese
proposal to make the exchange of ratifications at the
mouth of the Peiho.
The commissioners, however, agreed to one exception
to the resolution to allow no business to be transacted
by Mr. Ward at the capital. The President's autograph
letter to the emperor, which should have been delivered
at the audience that never took place, was upon the
emperor's appointment received by Kweiliang, one of
the treaty commissioners, who, Mr. Ward writes, was
" the emperor's prime minister, and the second man in
the empire to the emperor himself. It was received by
him with every mark of respect — elevating it above his
eyes, he placed it upon a table, under a guard of honor,
until it could be conveyed to the emperor."
The minister and his suite, while outwardly treated
with civility, were kept virtually as prisoners during
their stay at the capital, their quarters being guarded
by soldiers, and no one permitted to communicate with
them. Anticipating the visit to Peking, the Secretary
of State had solicited of the Russian government the
252 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
good offices of its minister, then resident there, and that
minister made efforts to communicate with Mr. Ward,
but all his letters were withheld, and his messengers
and members of his suite were refused access to the
American quarters.
His mission to the capital having proved fruitless,
Mr. Ward returned to Pehtang, situated on one of the
mouths of the Peiho, where he had landed, and there,
" with every mark of respect," the exchange of the
treaty was effected with the governor-general of the
province. During the discussions at Peking reference
was made to the acts of Commodore Tatnall, and it was
stated that the emperor required the hot on " in proof
of sincere repentance " for the aid rendered the British.
After the treaty had been exchanged, the governor-
general stated that his Majesty had directed him, as
a mark of his peculiar favor to the minister, to deliver
to him an American prisoner taken at the attack upon
the forts. The prisoner when brought in acknowledged
that he was a Canadian in the British navy, and to
secure better treatment he had told the Chinese that
he was an American, and that there was a body of two
hundred Americans who took part in the attack.
The course pursued by Mr. Ward after the allies re-
tired from the Peiho exposed him to the criticism of his
colleagues and to the ridicule of the press, but it was in
line with his instructions, and met with the approval of
his government. His treatment at Peking was an affront
to himself and his country, but one which he could not
well have anticipated, and through which he bore him-
self with dignity and self-possession. It was a part of
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 253
the policy adopted by his government even to accept
affronts with forbearance and exercise patience towards
a people with very different traits of national character
and education. And yet the Chinese regarded the
American minister as very unreasonable, and as " having
treated the emperor with disrespect " in not accepting
the form of audience offered him.
The Chinese mission did not prove a very attractive
field for American statesmen. Messrs. McLane and
Reed had asked to be relieved within a year after arrival
at their posts ; and Mr. Ward wrote from the mouth of
the Peiho, following the British defeat at the Taku
forts, less than four months after reaching Hongkong,
for permission to return home. On arriving at Can-
ton, after his somewhat inglorious visit to Peking, he
received this permission, and in December, 1859, Dr.
Williams assumed charge of the legation.1
The events in China of the eighteen months which
followed were memorable in its history and of vast con-
sequence to its future ; but in them the United States
took little part. A change of administration and the
civil war in America were impending, absorbing the at-
tention of the government, and a new minister was not
sent to the country till the events there in progress had
their consummation. The British and French allied
forces had demanded and sought to exercise the right
1 S. Ex. Doc. 30 (cited), 569-624 ; Martin's Cathay, pt. i. chap, xii.;
Williams's Life and Letters, chap, ix.; Harper's Mag. Oct. 1898, p. 747.
As to kotou, S. Ex. Doc. 30, p. 595 ; Martin's Cathay, 199 ; N. A. Rev.
Jan. 1860, pp. 159, 166 ; 1 Davis's The Chinese, 97; Histoire des Rela-
tions Politiques . . . Suivie du Cdre'monial observe* a la cour de Peking
pour la Reception des Ambassadeurs, G. Pauthier, Paris, 1859.
264 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
to ascend one of the rivers of China to an interior city,
which was not open to foreign trade and travel. The
imperial authorities asked their envoys to land at the
mouth of the river and go to Peking under Chinese
escort. The Chinese were technically right in their
position, and for a third time the British began hostili-
ties against China upon an issue in which they were in
the wrong. And yet the treatment of the American
minister at Peking proved that the Chinese could not
be brought to a faithful observance of the treaties ex-
cept by further coercive measures.
V, In 1860 Lord Elgin and Baron Gros were again sent
out, backed by a large naval and land force of the allied
powers. The Taku forts were a third time assaulted,
and with success, and a formidable army marched over-
land to the capital and there dictated peace, the emperor
and his court fleeing to the north, and his palace being
plundered and burned. The treaties of Tientsin were
ratified and exchanged, Tientsin was opened to foreign
trade, indemnities and a cession of territory were ex-
acted because of the war, and the right of diplomatic
residence at Peking and equality of official intercourse
were guaranteed.1
The second stage in the advancement of China to a
proper position among the nations was thus brought
about by the rough argument of war. The journey
yet unaccomplished was to be made with reluctant and
1 McCarthy's Hist. chap, xlii.; Boulger's Hist China, 267 ; Williams's
Hist. China, 319; Personal Narrative of Occurrences during Lord Elgin's
Second Embassy to China, 1860, by H. B. Loch, London, 1870 ; Narrative
of the War with China in 1860, by Lord Wolseley, London, 1862.
THE CRUMBLING WALL OF CHINA 256
painful steps, sometimes by diplomatic pressure, and
sometimes by force of arms. It will be seen that the
United States, still persisting in its policy of peace, con-
tinued its cooperation with the European powers in
breaking down the ancient barriers of conservatism
and arrogance, while at the same time not unmindful
of the forbearance due to that country because of those
peculiar traits of its government and people.
VIII
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION
The reorganization of the Chinese government, after
the evacuation of the capital by the allies in 1860, gave
evidence that the lesson so rudely taught by the for-
eign armies was to be of profit to the empire. Hitherto
what little attention had been bestowed upon foreign
affairs was intrusted to the Colonial Board, the depart-
ment which had to do with the intercourse of the tribu-
tary nations, Korea, Annam, and other adjacent coun-
tries. Yielding to the demand of the envoys of the
allied powers, a board of foreign affairs was organized,
termed the Tsung-li Yamen. With this department
the diplomatic representatives, whose permanent resi-
dence at Peking had been secured as the chief result
of the war, were to hold direct intercourse, and with it
their business was to be transacted.
The emperor, who had fled at the approach of the
allied armies, having died soon after their withdrawal
from the capital, was succeeded by his infant son, and
upon the organization of the Tsung-li Yamen, Prince
Kung, an uncle of the young ruler, was designated as
its president. He was a man of intelligence and proved
to be a wise statesman with liberal tendencies, who
recognized the necessity of his country's maintaining
intercourse with the outside nations. With him was
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 257
associated Kweiliang, who had conducted the negotia-
tions at Tientsin in 1858, where he had exhibited much
skill and fitness for diplomatic duties. The third mem-
ber of this board, as at first organized, was Wensiang,
a Manchu mandarin, a man of marked ability, saga-
cious and enlightened, who realized better than any
other of its public men the real situation of the empire.
For fifteen years, until his death in 1875, he was the
controlling spirit in the Foreign Office, the foremost
Chinese statesman of his day, and his country's most
useful public servant. With these men the diplomatic \
representatives of the Western nations had to do, and
they proved worthy compeers in urbanity, astuteness,
and capacity for public affairs.
The American representative who was to enter upon
this new field of diplomacy, and who was destined to a
career greatly distinguished above his colleagues, re-
ceived his appointment to the post through a chance
turn in political affairs. Anson Burlingame, a member
of Congress from Massachusetts, a man of accomplished
manners and possessing considerable oratorical gifts,
had come prominently into public notice during the
exciting period preceding the Civil War in the United
States. He was best known for his ready acceptance
of the challenge to a duel sent him by Brooks, of South
Carolina, because of his denunciation of the latter for
his brutal assault upon Charles Sumner in the senate
chamber. When President Lincoln came to allot the
offices to his adherents, Mr. Burlingame was appointed
minister to Austria. Reaching Paris on his way to his
post at Vienna, he was detained by notice that the
258 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Austrian court was disinclined to receive him because
he had in Congress expressed sympathy with the Hun-
garian patriot Kossuth and with the rising Italian
kingdom of Victor Emmanuel. In this dilemma the
mission to China, which had remained vacant for some
time, was offered him, and Mr. Burlingame reluctantly
changed his journey from Vienna to Peking.
( He reached Canton in November, 1861. Before
repairing to his post at Peking he spent several months
at the treaty ports, familiarizing himself with the state
of affairs and with American interests in those locali-
ties, and he did not reach Peking till July, 1862. The
British, French, and Russian ministers had been for
some time installed in their legations, and the Tsung-li
Yamen had already adapted itself to the changed situa-
tion. Mr. Burlingame, by his attractive personality
and genial manners, soon established pleasant relations
with Prince Kung and Wensiang, and with his diplo-
matic colleagues.
He entered upon his mission in full accord with the
spirit of friendliness and forbearance which actuated
his government towards China. Within a short time
his frankness and enthusiasm had so won the confi-
dence of his colleagues that he brought about an agree-
ment between them to adopt what he termed " a policy
of cooperation — an effort to substitute fair diplomatic
action in China for force " — whereby on all questions
of general interest the ministers would take joint ac-
tion ; and while insisting upon the faithful observance
of the treaties, they pledged themselves to respect the
territorial integrity of China, to do what they properly
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 259
could to support the imperial government against the
rebels, and not to interfere with the government in
internal affairs, except in cases of extreme necessity.
This friendly action of the American minister was
highly appreciated by the Tsung-li Yamen. When
soon afterwards the Confederate cruiser Alabama ap-
peared in the China seas, where it had destroyed sev-
eral American vessels, Mr. Burlingame requested the
Chinese government to forbid her entrance into any of
its ports or to allow its subjects to furnish any sup-
plies, an edict was promptly issued commanding the
authorities " to keep a careful and close oversight, and
if the steamer Alabama, or any other vessel-of-war,
scheming how it can injure American property, ap-
proach the coasts of China, under their jurisdiction,
they are to prevent all such vessels entering our ports."
Such an order enforced by the governments of Europe
would have saved the American commercial marine
from destruction and shortened the Civil War. It was
a striking evidence of the influence of the minister and
of the friendship of the Chinese government.
During Mr. Burlingame's mission an interesting in-
cident occurred which illustrates the liberal spirit which
animated the imperial government at that time. Sen
Ki-yu, a Chinese scholar and governor of a province,
soon after the British treaty of 1842 had been forced
upon the government, followed by that of 1844 with
the United States, wrote a book in which he sought to
show his educated countrymen that the people of the
Western nations were not the barbarians they were
thought to be. He could not read a word of any other
260 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
language than his own, and obtained his information
from the few foreigners he met at the open ports of
Amoy and Fuchau. It contained a geographical and
historical notice of the United States with a eulogy of
some length upon Washington, the spirit of which may
be gathered from the closing paragraph. " It appears
from the above that Washington was a very remarkable
man. In devising plans he was more daring than Chin
Shing or Han Kwang ; in winning a country he was
braver than Tsau Tsau or Lin Pi [Chinese heroes].
Wielding his four-foot falchion, he enlarged the fron-
tiers myriads of miles, and yet he refused to usurp
regal dignity, or even to transmit it to his posterity;
but, on the contrary, first proposed the plan of electing
men to oflice. Where in the world can be found a
mode more equitable ? It is the same idea, in fact,
that has been handed down to us from the three reigns
of Yau, Shun, and Yu. In ruling the state he honored
and fostered good usages, and did not exalt military
merit, a principle totally unlike what is found in other
kingdoms. I have seen his portrait. His mien and
countenance are grand and impressive in the highest
degree. Ah ! who is there that does not call him a
hero?"
For writing this book Sen Ki-yu was removed from
his office of governor, was degraded, and forced to
remain in private life for sixteen years. Under the
new regime he was in 1866 recalled to public life and
made a member of the Tsung-li Yamen. The attention
of Secretary Seward was called to his career and his
eulogy on Washington, and as a fitting tribute of
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 261
respect, he ordered a portrait of the first President to
be painted, and it was presented on behalf of the gov-
ernment of the United States by Mr. Burlingame in an
appropriate address to Sen Ki-yu, in the presence of
his colleagues and a distinguished company of Chinese
statesmen and scholars.
Upon his appointment to the Tsung-li Yamen, he
was likewise made the managing director of the Tung
Wen Kwan, or Imperial College, which had been estab-
lished for the education in European languages and
learning of a select number of Chinese youths taken
from the families of the nobility and higher officials.
The presidency of this college had been conferred upon
Dr. W. A. P. Martin, the American Chinese scholar,
who was assisted by a corps of European professors.
Another evidence, reported by Minister Burlingame, of
the spirit of progress of the government and its accept-
ance of American ideas, was the publication by the
Chinese Foreign Office and distribution to the officials
of the empire of a Chinese version of Wheaton's trea-
tise on international law, translated by Dr. Martin.
During the term of Mr. Burlingame's mission no
questions of serious difficulty arose between the United
States and China, thanks to the intelligent policy of
the Tsung-li Yamen and to the tact and friendly dispo-
sition of the American minister. After a residence in
Peking of six years, Mr. Burlingame decided to resign
and return to the United States to reenter political
life.1
1 As to Burlingame's appointment as minister, see MSS. dispatches,
Department of State, 1861, Austria. As to services in China, U. S.
262 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
The Tsung-li Yamen had been advised of his inten-
tion, and appointed a farewell interview at the foreign
office. During an exchange of compliments, a sugges-
tion was made by Wensiang that in passing through
Europe on his return to the United States, Mr. Bur-
lingame might be of great service in Paris and London
by friendly representations on behalf of China. He
at once expressed his willingness to render China this
service, whereupon Wensiang, apparently half in ear-
nest and half in compliment, asked, " Why will you not
represent us officially ? " Mr. Burlingame reports that
he " repulsed the suggestion playfully, and the con-
versation passed to other topics." Out of this came
his actual appointment as ambassador of China to the
Western powers.
Dr. Martin, who was present as interpreter at the
farewell interview, says that Mr. Burlingame on his
return to his legation called upon Eobert Hart, a Brit-
ish subject at the head of the Chinese customs service
and a confidential adviser of the Tsung-li Yamen, and
told him of the suggestion which had been made to
him. Hart, who owed much to Mr. Burlingame for
his advancement in the Chinese service, undertook to
make the suggestion a realization, and within a few
days inquiry was made of Mr. Burlingame as to his
willingness to accept such an appointment, and the im-
perial edict soon followed. In tendering his resignation
to Secretary Seward before accepting this appointment,
Dip. Cor. 1862-1868, China ; Williams's Letters, chap. x. ; Martin's
Cathay, pt. ii. chap. ii. As to Sen Ki-yu, U. S. Dip. Cor. 1867, pt. i. pp.
453, 513 ; Speers's China, 421 ; Williams's Letters, 417.
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 263
he stated that he did so " in the interests of my coun- j
try and civilization. ... I may be permitted to add
that when the oldest nation in the world, containing
one-third of the human race, seeks, for the first time,
to come into relations with the West, and requests the
youngest nation, through its representative, to act as
the medium of such change, the mission is one not
to be solicited or rejected." He further reported that
before he accepted the appointment he consulted his
diplomatic colleagues, who heartily approved of the ac-
tion of the Chinese government, and pledged him their
support in his new mission. J
The emperor's edict issued in November, 1867, en-
grossed on yellow silk and bearing the great seal of the
empire, was in the following terse terms : " The Envoy
Anson Burlingame manages affairs in a friendly and
peaceful manner, and is fully acquainted with the gen-
eral relations between this and other countries ; let him,
therefore, now be sent to all the treaty powers as the
high minister, empowered to attend to every question aris-
ing between China and those countries. This from the
Emperor." Mr. Burlingame was created an official of
the first or highest rank in the Chinese government,
and with him were associated two Chinese officials of
the Tsung-li Yamen of the second rank. The British
secretary of legation and a French official in the Chi-
nese service were made secretaries of the mission, and
there was added a numerous suite of translators, clerks,
and attendants.
The embassy, which was commissioned to visit the
eleven Western nations with which China had treaties,
264 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
came first to the United States and reached Washing-
ton in May, 1868. From its landing in San Francisco
to its departure from New York for Europe, its recep-
tion was of the most cordial character, constituting
one continuous ovation. In London it was at first re-
ceived with coolness, but Mr. Burlingame's enthusiastic
temperament and persuasive address won the favor of
the British government and people. At a luncheon
given to the members of the mission in Windsor Cas-
tle, after being received by the queen, Lord Stanley
said : " It is true that a certain degree of opposition,
originating in ignorance of the real object of the Chi-
nese mission, coupled with a desire to adhere to the old
traditional British coercive policy, met Mr. Burlingame
on his arrival in England, but this has passed away.
Mr. Burlingame, by his dignified course, and feeling
the grandeur and importance of the high trust confided
to his care, has conducted himself in such a manner as
to completely disarm opposition and create a favorable
impression not only for China, but for the United
States."
The reception in Paris was not so hearty ; at Berlin
an attentive hearing was accorded the mission ; and
thence it proceeded to St. Petersburg. But at the
Russian capital Mr. Burlingame fell ill and within a
few days succumbed to his disease, thus ending his
brilliant career. That he was the life and soul of the
mission is shown by the fact that upon his death it
in great measure ceased its efforts and returned to Pe-
king, where it was dissolved. Even the two associate
Chinese envoys, whom Prince Kung in their instruc-
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 266
tions declared were appointed in order to " give those
high officials opportunity to acquire practice and expe-
rience in diplomatic duties/' were on their return as-
signed to internal positions and disappeared from public
view.
The mission had its origin in the proposed revision
the next year of the treaties of Tientsin of 1858. It
had for its object the solicitation from the treaty powers
of the abandonment of the policy of force ; of the
treatment of China on an equality with other nations ;
of forbearance and patience in allowing it to work out
the system of reform and of international intercourse
in its own time and way ; and it had in view the incor-
poration of these ideas in the revised treaties which
were in contemplation. It was a wise step on the part
of the Chinese to choose for the head of this mission a
representative of the United States, whose government
had disavowed all territorial aims in China, and whose
selection could awaken no jealousy or suspicion among
the rival European powers.
The only substantial result of the mission was the
treaty which it negotiated with the government of the
United States, and the terms of that treaty may in some
degree indicate the purposes and expectations of Prince
Kung and his associates of the Tsung-li Yamen in its
creation. This treaty was drafted by Secretary Seward,
who, it has been shown, entertained the most exalted
ideas as to the future possibilities of the United States
in the Pacific Ocean. It stipulated the territorial in-
tegrity of China by disavowing any right to interfere
with its eminent domain or sovereign jurisdiction over
266 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
its subjects and property ; it recognized the right of
China to regulate its internal trade not affected by
treaty ; provided for the appointment of consuls ; se-
cured exemption from persecution or disability on ac-
count of religion ; recognized the right of voluntary
emigration ; pledged the privilege of residence and
travel in either country on the basis of the most fa-
vored nation ; granted the privilege of schools and
\ colleges ; disavowed the intention to interfere in the
domestic administration of China in respect to public
improvements, but expressed the willingness of the
United States to aid in such enterprises when requested
by China.
The effect of the treaty of 1868 upon the future
relations of the two countries will be considered later in
this chapter, when it will be seen that its principal pro-
J visions were nullified by a revulsion of public sentiment
in the United States. Hence it may be said that the
Burlingame mission was substantially barren of results.
At the time it was the subject of animated discussion,
the foreign merchants resident in China being especially
earnest in their opposition to it as a movement to de-
ceive and mislead the Western powers, and claiming
that the Chinese were at heart relentless opponents of
all foreigners, and that it was folly to treat them as
other nations. A later minister at Peking wrote :
" Mr. Burlingame, with that wealth of generosity which
characterized him, nourished in his imagination the
more attractive qualities of the Chinese. There was so
much that was exalted and honorable in his views, so
much that touched the generous sentiments of the age,
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 267
so much withal that was true and capable of demon-
stration, that he aroused the enthusiasm of our people.
. . . The last effects of Mr. Burlingame's glowing
statements were then effaced [by the Tientsin riot of
1870], and an impression left that the Chinese enter-
tained an unyielding, bitter hatred of foreigners."
However this may be, the fruitless effects of the mis-
sion cannot be made to reflect upon Mr. Burlingame's
ability or foresight. Indeed his success in the United
States and at London and the sudden collapse of the
mission upon his death bear testimony to his capacity
and magnetic personality. James G. Blaine, who was
a participant in the honors paid to him at Washington,
says of him : " As an example of the influence of a
single man attained over an alien race, whose civiliza-
tion is widely different, whose religious belief is totally
opposite, whose language he could not read nor write
nor speak, Mr. Burlingame's career in China will always
be regarded as an extraordinary event, not to be ac-
counted for except by conceding to him a peculiar
power of influencing those with whom he came in con-
tact ; a power growing out of a mysterious gift, partly
intellectual, partly spiritual, and largely physical." The
imagination may well speculate upon what might have
been the later history of China, if his life had been
spared to conclude his mission and to return to Peking
to exercise his unusual personal influence upon the im-
perial court.1
1 On Burlingame's appointment and mission, U. S. Dip. Cor. 1868,
pt. i. pp. 493, 502, 601 ; 1870, pp. 317, 332 ; 1871, p. 166 ; Williams's
Letters, 370, 376, 382 ; Martin's Cathay, 374 ; Speers's China, 429 ;
268 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
The Tientsin riot of 1870, resulting in the murder of
nineteen foreigners, mostly French missionaries, and
the destruction of the French consulate, the cathedral
and the mission property, was one of the most violent
outbursts of Chinese antipathy to foreigners in the last
century. Although the American minister reported
that the French consul and missionaries had been im-
prudent in their conduct, he united with his diplomatic
colleagues in a demand upon the authorities for the
punishment of the guilty parties, and was active in
bringing about a proper reparation and settlement.1
From the first residence of the foreign ministers at
Peking the empire had been ruled by a regency con-
sisting of the two empress dowagers, but on February
23, 1873, the young emperor, having attained his ma-
jority, personally assumed the control of the govern-
ment, and a notice to this effect was sent by Prince
Kung to the chiefs of the diplomatic corps. Since 1860
the foreign representatives on their arrival at the capi-
tal had sent a copy of their credentials to the Tsung-li
Yamen, but had retained the originals, the female re-
gency holding no personal intercourse with them. Upon
receipt of the notice of the emperor's assumption of the
government, the ministers joined in a note requesting
Nevius's China, 438 ; Williams's Hist. China, 344 ; Douglas's China,
356 ; The Burlingame Mission, A Political Disclosure, etc., by J. M.
Gumpach, 1872 ; Harper's Mag. Oct. 1868, p. 592 ; Westminster Rev.
Jan. 1870. For Burlingame's views of mission, see speech in New York,
Nevius's China, 451. For Burlingame treaty of 1868, U. S. Treaties,
p. 179.
1 U. S. For. Rel., 1870 and 1871, China ; Williams's Hist. China, 347 ;
Douglas's China, 360.
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 269
an audience of his majesty to pay their respects and
present to him their credentials.
Thus was raised again the question of audience,
which had been so much discussed during the past two
centuries and a half, whenever the representatives of
the Western nations had sought to appear in the pre-
sence of the ruler of the Middle Kingdom. The
Tsung-li Yamen assumed the same position as that
maintained by the court when the American minister,
Mr. "Ward, came to Peking in 1859, — that it would be
necessary for the foreign ministers to kneel at the au-
dience. The discussion on this point continued through
four weary months, with frequent conferences and
many exchanges of notes and memoranda. The for-
eign governments were firm in sustaining their repre-
sentatives in the position that they would do nothing
at the audience which would imply inferiority on the
part of their countries, and that, as prostration or kneel-
ing was an act of abasement, they could not permit
their ministers to perform it. The Secretary of State
in his instructions to Mr. Low, the American minister,
stated that while questions of ceremony were not usually
seriously considered in the United States, in the case
of China it involved the official equality of nations and
became a question, not of form merely, but of sub-
stance, requiring grave consideration. He was directed
" to proceed carefully and with due regard for the in-
veterate prejudices and the grotesque conceit of the
Chinese courtiers," but if he should fail to bring about
a correct decision of the question, he was authorized to
go to the extreme of suspending official intercourse.
270 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Happily, however, such a course did not become
necessary, as Prince Kung and Wensiang were able
eventually to bring the court and cabinet to accept
the three bows which were usual in similar ceremonies
at European courts as a sufficient mark of respect to
the emperor. The audience was a noted event in Chi-
nese history, as it marked another step towards con-
formity to Western diplomatic intercourse. And yet it
was not a complete abandonment of oriental methods.
The audience did not take place in the great reception
hall, but in the " Pavilion of Purple Light/' used for
receiving the visits of the representatives of tributary
states. The emperor did not stand, did not receive
from the ministers their credentials, and did not speak
to them in response to their addresses. He sat upon his
throne, the credentials were laid upon a table in front
of him, and he directed Prince Kung to make response
in his name. So hard it was for this ancient people to
break away from the custom of ages.1
The vexed question, so imperfectly settled in 1873,
would necessarily recur for discussion ; but as the young
emperor, Tung Chih, died soon after that date, and
another long regency occurred during the minority of
the present emperor, Kwang Hsu, no other anidience
was granted till 1891. Upon the latter attaining his
majority, an imperial edict was published directing an
audience for the diplomatic corps. This brought for-
ward again for discussion the points unsettled in 1873,
and for three months conferences of the members of
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1873, China ; Williams's Hist. China, 359 ; Douglas's
China, 375.
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 271
the corps and interviews and correspondence with the
Tsung-li Yamen absorbed the attention of these two
bodies.
The foreign representatives insisted, first, that the
audience should not be held in the tribute hall ; second,
that the letters from their sovereigns should be placed
by them in the hands of the emperor ; third, that there
should be a separate audience for each minister and his
suite, in place of a reception of the diplomatic corps in
a body, with one spokesman and one interpreter ; and
fourth, that new ministers might present their letters
on arrival, in place of waiting till the annual New Year's
reception, as was contemplated in the edict. On the
first two points the diplomats were only partially suc-
cessful. It was determined that the first audience should
be held in the " Pavilion of Purple Light," but in after
years in a suitable hall in the main palace. It was con-
tended that, according to immemorial law, no person
could present a paper to the emperor except upon his
knees. It was therefore decided that Prince Ching,
president of the Tsung-li Yamen, should descend from
the platform upon which the emperor was seated, take
the letter from the foreign minister at the foot of the
steps, and lay it upon the table in front of the emperor,
and then kneel to receive his majesty's reply. It may
seem trivial to the reader that a considerable part of the
time of the three months' deliberation was over the pre-
cise stage of the ceremony when Prince Ching should
kneel. The diplomats successfully contended that he
could not make that obeisance until the letter of their
sovereign or chief had left his hands, as until he placed
272 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
that document on the table he was in a certain sense
the agent of the foreign sovereign.
The American minister, Mr. Denby, — who had been
in Peking more than five years before he was able to
present the letter of the President accrediting him, —
reported the audience of 1891 as a great triumph for
Western diplomacy, and a long step in the direction of
recognition of the absolute equality of nations. But
it required the Japanese war of 1894 and the convul-
sion growing out of the Boxer outrages of 1900 to
bring the " Son of Heaven " down from his platform,
have him receive into his own hands the autograph let-
ters of presidents and monarchs, and talk face to face
with their representatives.1
Following the discussion of the audience question,
another step was taken towards a more liberal policy.
The American minister was informed that it had been
determined to send a number of Chinese youths abroad
to be educated at the public expense, and that they
would be sent to the United States, if assurance could
be had of a friendly reception, which was promptly
given. The first detachment, consisting of thirty youths,
was sent in 1872, and they were followed by thirty more
in 1873. Homes were found for them in families in
Massachusetts and Connecticut, and later others were
sent, and a station was established at Hartford, under
the direction of Yung Wing, a Chinese graduate of
Yale College, which was maintained for a number of
years, but it was finally abandoned and the young men
* U. S. For. Rel. 1891, pp. 355-385, 392, 455,456 ; 1892, p. 85 ; 1898,
p. 223.
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 273
recalled to China, upon the pretext of the reactionary
party that their long residence abroad would weaken
their devotion to their own country. The action in
sending them to the United States demonstrated the
liberal tendencies of the controlling spirit of the
government and its friendly disposition to the United
States. On their return to China, although a disposi-
tion was shown to exclude them from public life, the
value of their foreign education was so manifest that a
number of them have been assigned to important posts
under the government, and have rendered their country
very useful service.1
In 1875, Dr. S. Wells Williams, who began his dip-
lomatic career in 1853 as secretary and interpreter to
Commodore Perry in Japan, and who for twenty years
had acted as secretary and often as charge of the Amer-
ican legation in China, resigned his office and returned
to the United States. For several years and until his
death in 1884 he occupied the chair of Chinese Lan-
guages and Literature at Yale University. Few Amer-
ican officials in China have been enabled to render their
country such useful services. His work on China,
" The Middle Kingdom," remains to this day the stand-
ard authority on that country. His Chinese Dictionary
— a work of much labor and research — is the best
evidence to his great learning in the Chinese language.
Secretary Fish, in accepting his resignation, expressed
in the highest terms the government's appreciation of
his services. Minister Reed, with whom he served
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1872, p. 130 ; 1873, pp. 140, 186 ; Williams's Hist.
China, 387.
274 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
under the most trying circumstances, wrote : " He is the
most learned man in his varied information I have ever
met. . . . He is the most habitually religious man I
have ever seen." The American missionaries, by whom
his life was best known, well said of him : " It is not
often that the providence of God allots to any one man
so long and so distinguished a term of service."
The special feature of the Burlingame treaty of 1868
with the United States was in its emigration stipulations.
Although the ancient penal code of China visited ex-
patriation of its subjects with severe penalties upon the
resident relatives of offenders, and emigration was pro-
hibited by law and was discouraged by the government,
yet the overflowing Chinese population in and adjacent
to the seaports having intercourse with foreigners had
not been deterred from seeking to better their lot in
foreign lands. For centuries the Chinese had resorted
to the Philippine Islands, and even bitter persecution
and slaughter had not prevented many thousands of
them from maintaining their residence there. They
had likewise gone in large numbers to Annam, Siam,
Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the British Straits Set-
tlements, where their industrious and abstemious habits
had enabled them to supplant largely the less energetic
inhabitants.
About the time of the acquisition of California by
the United States and the discovery of gold there, a
fresh incentive was given to Chinese emigration, and
it assumed a new aspect. A large demand for labor
arose in Peru, where efforts were being made to restore
to cultivation the lands which had lain idle since the
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 275
conquest, and also to work the mines. In Cuba the
cultivation of sugar had become very profitable, and
the stringent enforcement of the international treaties
against the African slave trade had forced the planters
to look elsewhere for laborers. Brazil and other coun-
tries were likewise seeking for an increase of the labor-
ing class. China with its superabundant population
afforded the best field from which these countries could
obtain their much needed supply.
This led to the establishment of what is known as the
coolie trade — the procurement from southern China of
laborers, their transportation to Peru, Cuba, and other
countries nominally under a contract of service for a
term of years, but virtually constituting a system, of
slavery with all its attendant hardships and horrors.
The American consul at Hongkong, who was familiar
with this traffic, reported to his government that it dif-
fered from the African slave trade " in little else than
the employment of fraud instead of force to make its
victims captive." Secretary Seward, who visited China
on his tour of the world about the time when it was at
its height, described it as " an abomination scarcely less
execrable than the African slave-trade." The head-
quarters of this trade were established at the Portu-
guese port of Macao, as it was not permitted from the
Chinese ports nor the British colony of Hongkong.
For some twenty years it constituted the main business
of Macao, where the iniquitous traffic was carried on
long after it had been outlawed by the leading mari-
time nations of the world.
Many of the poorest classes of the Chinese, in the
276 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
hope of bettering their condition, were induced to
enter into contracts of service for a term of years
under tempting conditions as to wages and thus became
voluntary but deceived emigrants. As the demand in-
creased and the supply of willing contract laborers
became insufficient, Chinese in large numbers were
kidnapped from their homes, native procurers or pimps
being employed to do the needful work of the so-
called contractors. They were confined in barracoons
at Macao, and thence sent off in ship loads to their
destined places of slavery. The transportation of these
wretched creatures was attended with great privations,
and in many instances with experiences of the most
cruel and revolting character. The coolies often on
the voyage, discovering that they had been seduced
under false pretenses as to their destination or the
character of service, mutinied, and, killing the officers
and crew, returned to China; or, being overpowered,
many of them were killed and the rest kept as prison-
ers. Suicides were frequent and deaths from ill treat-
ment and disease were numerous. In one case the
mutinous coolies set fire to the vessel, whereupon the
captain and crew, battening down the hatches, took to
the boats and left the six hundred Chinese to perish
miserably. Other instances of nearly equal horror
occurred.
When they reached their destination, in Peru and
Cuba especially, they were sold to the planters at prices
as high as from $400 to $1000 for each laborer, for
the term of service fixed in the contract into which
they had entered either voluntarily or by compulsion ;
CHINESE IMMIGRATION" AND EXCLUSION 277
but at the end of the term, for alleged debt, crime,
or other fictitious charge they were continued in ser-
vice. During this period they were treated as slaves,
branded, lashed, and tortured, and their condition was
so wretched that many sought relief in death. It is
estimated that more than one hundred thousand Chi-
nese coolies were taken to Peru and about one hundred
and fifty thousand to Cuba.
The inefficiency or indifference of the Chinese gov-
ernment is shown in the fact that its subjects in
such large numbers could be carried away from its
dominions and so cruelly maltreated without any serious
effort to put an end to the evil. The local authorities
in a feeble way sought to repress kidnapping and the
imposition practiced on the people, but to little pur-
pose, as for many years the traffic flourished. Among
the documents on the subject sent to Washington by
Minister Parker, who was the most vigorous champion
in the crusade against the traffic, there is found a
proclamation issued by the gentry of Amoy, warning
their countrymen against the kidnappers and the sedu-
cers of the lower classes by false promises, and bemoan-
ing the sad fate of those sold into slavery. " They
might," it says, " implore Heaven, and their tears may
wet the earth, but their complaints are uttered in vain.
When carried to the barbarian regions, day and night
they are impelled to labor, without intervals even for
sleep. Death is their sole relief. . . . Alas ! those who
living were denizens of the central flowery country, dead,
their ghosts wander in strange lands. 0, azure Heaven
above! in this way are destroyed our righteous people."
278 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Realizing the friendly attitude of Americans towards
their country, the Chinese coolies in Peru sent to the
American legation in Lima a curious and affecting
petition, setting - forth their pitiable condition, and
praying that through its government the emperor of
China might be moved to intervene in their behalf.
This petition was presented by the American minister
at Peking to the Tsung-li Yamen, with the suggestion
of a course which might be followed to secure relief
without danger of foreign entanglements. He reports
that the officials of the Yamen expressed their sym-
pathy with their suffering countrymen, regretted that
they should have been inveigled into such a miserable,
cruel servitude, and hoped that the evils would soon be
mitigated ; but he states that they had no vivid sense
of their own responsibilities in the matter, did not
respond to his suggestion of a remedy, and took no
steps for the amelioration of the sad lot of the petition-
ers and the scores of thousands of other Chinese sim-
ilarly situated.
The explanation made by the American minister for
this surprising indifference of the Peking officials was
that their secluded position and prejudices of education
and etiquette prevented them from learning the true
state of the world and deterred them from any new
step in foreign intercourse. Added to this was the
fact that the interests of the great empire were not
seriously affected by the exodus of a few hundred thou-
sands from the swarming population of the southern
provinces. During the negotiations which resulted in
the treaty of 1858 one of the Chinese plenipotentiaries,
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 279
in response to a suggestion that his government should
send consuls abroad to look after the interests of the
emperor's subjects settled in foreign lands, said : " When
the emperor rules over so many millions, what does he
care for the few waifs that have drifted away to a for-
eign land ? " It was stated that some of those in the
United States were growing rich from the gold mines,
and that they might be worth looking after on that
account. " The emperor's wealth," he replied, " is
beyond computation; why should he care for those of
his subjects who have left their home, or for the sands
they have scooped together ? "
But in addition to the grievances of the coolies in
Peru, a little later similar complaints of ill treatment of
the Chinese in Cuba were brought to the attention of
the Chinese government, and upon the advice of the
American and British ministers a commission was sent
to that island to inquire into their condition. The
report of that commission, made in 1875, developed a
state of affairs of the worst possible character. It
showed that almost all the Chinese in Cuba had been
kidnapped by force or inveigled by falsehood. They
had been confined and treated like prisoners in the
barracoons at Macao, intimidated or deceived into sign-
ing unjust contracts, shipped like slaves, and cruelly
treated on the voyage. Among the kidnapped were
some persons of literary and official rank, who were
held to unwilling labor. Many jumped overboard on
the voyage, wild at the fraud practiced upon them, or
crazed with the sufferings which they endured from
overcrowding, filth, and insufficient food. One in ten
280 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
died on the passage. Arrived in Cuba, their services
were sold at high rates and great profits. They were
kept at work much beyond the usual hours of labor,
denied holidays, beaten, mutilated, and starved, and
from these causes they died in large numbers. When
the contracts expired, instead of being allowed their
freedom, if they refused to renew their contracts, they
were treated as vagrants and held as convicts until they
reengaged themselves or were sold into service. At
the end of the second contract, they were again sub-
jected to the same treatment. And the various extor-
tions practiced and the high rates of passports made
escape from the island extremely difficult.
I When this report was made public it so shocked the
moral sense of the world that even the Spanish govern-
ment, which was the last of the civilized nations to
adhere to the system of slavery, was forced to enter
into treaty stipulations with China, whereby a stop was
put to the most iniquitous practices of the system of
I contract service ; and the Portuguese government was
forced to close the barracoons at Macao. Chinese con-
suls were sent to Cuba, Peru, and other countries where
Chinese coolies were found in considerable numbers,
and they were afforded the opportunity of receiving
and investigating their complaints.
The first legislation looking to the suppression of
the Chinese coolie trade was passed by the British Par-
liament in 1855, making it unlawful for British ships
I to engage in it, and giving full power to the colonial
government at Hongkong, where the trade was first
established, to take measures against it. This drove
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 281
the headquarters of the business to Macao and trans-
ferred the transportation service to other than British
vessels. Although the American ministers in China
exerted their influence against it, and Minister Parker
issued a proclamation warning American vessels from
engaging in the carrying of coolies, as the minister had
no power to punish violations of his proclamation, it did
not deter American vessels, and to their shame be it
said, a number of them were for a time engaged in the
transportation. But in 1862 Congress passed an act
making it unlawful for American vessels to transport
subjects of China or of any other oriental country,
known as coolies, to any foreign port to be held to
service or labor ; all citizens of the United States were
prohibited from engaging in the trade or from building
vessels to engage in it ; and American naval officers
were empowered to search and seize American vessels
offending against the law. It was likewise made the
duty of American consuls to examine all emigrants on
ships clearing for United States ports to ascertain
whether they were departing voluntarily.
The effect of the law was to drive all American ves- i
sels and citizens out of the iniquitous traffic and also to
prevent the introduction of coolie labor into the United
States. The intercourse of the Americans with the
Chinese had created a friendly feeling on the part of
the latter, and soon after the establishment of diplo-
matic relations and the opening of the ports to trade,
the attention of the Chinese was turned to the Pacific
territory of the United States. With the oriental im-
agery to which they were addicted they styled that
282 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
country " The Beautiful Land " and the Union standard
"The Flowery Flag." Before the enactment of the
coolie legislation by Congress several thousands of Chi-
nese had come to California, attracted by the discovery
of gold and by the demand for labor at high rates of
wages ; but under the American laws the system of
enforced labor was not permitted and the coolie trade
never extended to the United States. The cost of
transportation of many of the Chinese laborers who
came to California was advanced to them by firms or
companies at Canton or Hongkong, and they signed
contracts to refund the sums advanced out of their
wages, but they were perfectly free as to their move-
ments and service when they reached the United
States.1
Although the United States had prohibited its citi-
zens and vessels from engaging in the coolie trade, it
agreed to the insertion of a clause in the Burlingame
treaty to give to its laws the solemn guarantee of an
international compact, by which it was made a penal
offense for a citizen of the United States or a Chinese
subject to take the citizens or subjects of the other
nation to any foreign country without their free and
1 For reports of American ministers as to coolie trade, H. Ex. Doc.
123, 33d Cong. 1st Sess. p. 78 ; S. Ex. Doc. 99. 34th Cong. 1st Sess. ; S.
Ex. Doc. 22, 35th Cong. 2d Sess. 623, 632, 661, 670 ; S. Ex. Doc. 30,
36th Cong. 1st Sess. 59, 185, 424 ; For. Rel. 1871, pp. 114, 150, 210 ;
1873, pp. 205, 207 ; 1875, p. 293 ; 1878, p. 96 ; 19 Chinese Repository,
344, 510 ; Martin's Cathay, 31, 160 ; Seward's Travels Around the World,
New York, 1873, p. 253 ; Harper's Mag. June, 1864 ; N. A. Rev. Jan.
1860, p. 143 ; Williams's Hist. 346 ; Williams's Letters, 414 ; Speers's
China, 421. For laws of Congress, U. S. Rev. Stat. sees. 2158-2164 ; 18
St. at L. 477.
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 283
voluntary consent. But the stipulations to which the
greatest value were attached in the United States were
those contained in Article V., which " cordially recog-
nized " on the part of both governments " the inherent
and inalienable right of man to change his home and
allegiance, and also the mutual advantage of the free
immigration and emigration of their citizens and sub-
jects respectively from one country to the other for
purposes of curiosity, of trade, or as permanent resi-
dents ; " and in Article VI., in which it was provided
that the citizens and subjects respectively " shall enjoy
the same privileges, immunities, or exemptions in re-
spect to travel or residence as* may there be enjoyed by
the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation."
At the time this treaty was being made several thou-
sand Chinese laborers were engaged in the construction \
of the transcontinental or Pacific railroad. This stu-
pendous enterprise, which was to bind the Atlantic and
Pacific territories of the nation in an indissoluble union,
and which had required the credit of the nation and
the wealth of its capitalists for its consummation, was
approaching completion, thanks to the patient toil of
an army of Chinese laborers when others could not be
obtained. This same sturdy and indefatigable race had
been largely instrumental in the sudden and wonderful
development of the Pacific States. It was felt that
they were a valuable addition to the labor element of
the country and were destined to have a still greater
and still more favorable influence upon its develop-
ment.
Hence the treaty containing the stipulations cited
284 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
was heralded as a marked evidence of American influ-
ence in the East, and the President, in communicating
its negotiation to Congress, spoke of it as a " liberal and
auspicious treaty." Some delay, however, occurred in
its ratification by the Chinese government, and serious
uneasiness was felt in the United States lest it should
fail to be carried into effect. Under President Grant's
direction, Secretary Fish instructed the American min-
ister in Peking to exert his influence with the Chinese
authorities to bring about its early ratification. He
wrote : " Many considerations call for this besides those
which may be deduced from what has gone before in
this instruction. Every month brings thousands of Chi-
nese immigrants to the Pacific coast. Already they
have crossed the great mountains and are beginning to
be found in the interior of the continent. By their
assiduity, patience, and fidelity, and by their intelli-
gence, they earn the good-will and confidence of those
who employ them. We have good reason to think this
thing will continue and increase ; " and the Secretary
said it was welcomed by the country.
The treaty was finally ratified by China, and the
government of the United States congratulated itself
on being instrumental in bringing China out of her
seclusion and inducing her "to march forward," as
Secretary Fish expressed it. Ten years after this treaty
was signed, President Hayes, in a message to Congress,
thus spoke of its leading provision : " Unquestionably
the adhesion of the government of China to these lib-
eral principles of freedom in emigration, with which we
were so familiar and with which we were so well satis-
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 285
fied, was a great advance towards opening that empire
to our civilization and religion, and gave promise in the
future of greater and greater practical results in the
diffusion throughout that great population of our arts
and industries, our manufactures, our material improve-
ments, and the sentiments of government and religion
which seem to us so important to the welfare of man-
kind." J
But within a few years after the treaty went into
operation a change in public sentiment respecting it
began to take place, especially on the Pacific coast,
where the Chinese population was principally located.
By their diligence and frugal habits they were able to
successfully compete with the white laborers in the
mining camps, in the fields, in the shops, as domestics,
and in all common manual labor. The trades unions
joined in sounding an alarm that the myriads of people
from the crowded and half-starved homes of China
were likely to come to the country in such numbers as
to drive out entirely the white laborers. The Chinese
in California and adjacent sections segregated them-
selves from the other inhabitants, living together in
cheap, ill-constructed, and uncleanly houses, took no
part in local or public affairs, did not assimilate with
the mass of the people, and observed their pagan or
superstitious rites. It was argued that they were an
undesirable population, and that if continued to be
allowed free access to the country, they would in time
endanger its institutions and change entirely its distinc-
tive characteristics.
1 6 Presidents' Messages, 690 ; 7 lb. 516 ; U. S. For. Rel. 1870, p. 307.
286 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
The opposition to this emigration first manifested
itself in individual acts of hostility, personal abuse of
Chinamen, and injury to their property. To this suc-
ceeded state laws restricting their rights and seeking
to limit the immigration. But when tested in the courts
this state legislation was declared to be in violation of
the treaty or of the federal Constitution. The element
opposed to the coming of the Chinese, which had now
grown so strong in California as to dominate state
politics, appealed to Congress for an abrogation or
modification of the Burlingame treaty of 1868. This
appeal was so effective as to procure the appointment, in
1876, of a joint committee of the two houses to visit
the Pacific coast and to investigate the character, extent,
and effect of Chinese immigration.
The committee, at the head of which was Senator
Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, one of the ablest and
most influential members of Congress, held a number
of sessions at San Francisco, examined a large number
of witnesses, received a mass of documentary evidence,
and made a thorough investigation. The report which
the committee submitted to Congress at its next session
constitutes, with the testimony, a volume of over twelve
hundred pages. The chairman, Senator Morton, at-
tended the sessions of the committee in San Francisco,
but having fallen ill on his return journey to the East
and died before Congress convened, the report was pre-
sented by Senator Sargent, of California. As the ma-
jority and minority reports of this committee set forth
the arguments advanced during the discussion, in the
United States through twenty-five years, of the much
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 287
agitated question of Chinese immigration, it is well to
give an epitome of them.
The report submitted for the committee by Senator
Sargent stated that the investigation established the
fact that so far as material prosperity was concerned,
the Pacific coast had been a great gainer by Chinese
immigration, and, if inquiry was not to be made into the
present and future moral or political welfare of the
Pacific States, it must be conceded that their general
resources were being rapidly developed by Chinese
labor. Opposition to any restriction on Chinese immi-
gration was manifested by the capitalistic classes and
those interested in transportation ; also by religious
teachers, who found in the presence of the Chinese an
opportunity of Christianizing them.
On the other hand, the laboring men and artisans
were opposed to the influx of Chinese ; and the same
view was entertained by many professional men, mer-
chants, divines, and judges, who regarded the prosper-
ity derived from the Chinese as deceptive and unwhole-
some, ruinous to the laboring classes, promotive of
caste, and dangerous to free institutions.
The committee reported the evidence as showing that
the Chinese lived in filthy dwellings, upon poor food,
crowded in narrow quarters, disregarding health and
fire ordinances, and that their vices were corrupting the
morals especially of the young. It also showed that
the Chinese had reduced wages to starvation prices for
white men and women, that the hardships bore with
special severity upon women, and that the tendency
was to degrade all white working people to the abject
288 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
condition of a servile class. From this cause there had
sprung up a bitterly hostile feeling to the Chinese,
sometimes exhibited in laws and ordinances of doubtful
propriety, in the abuse of individual Chinese, and in
cases of mob violence.
The committee held that an indigestible mass in the
community, distinct in language, pagan in religion, in-
ferior in mental and moral qualities, was an undesir-
able element in a republic, and especially so if political
power should be placed in its hands ; that the safety of
the state demanded that such power should not be so
placed, and the safety of the immigrant depended upon
that power.
It was painfully evident from the testimony that the
Pacific coast must in time become either American or
Mongolian ; that while conditions were favorable to the
growth and occupancy of the Pacific States by Ameri-
cans, the Chinese had advantages which would put
them far in advance in the race for possession ; and
that the presence of Chinese discouraged and retarded
white immigration.
By the judges of the criminal courts it was shown
that there was a great want of veracity among Chinese
witnesses, and that they had little regard for the sanc-
tity of an oath. It was shown that they were non-
assimilative with the whites, had no social intercourse
and did not intermarry with them, and in a residence
of twenty-five years had made no progress in that di-
rection. They did not bring their families with them ;
all expected to return to China ; and prostitutes were
imported and held as slaves. It was claimed that in
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 289
point of morals they were far inferior to the European
or Aryan race, and in brain capacity as well. It was
admitted, however, that the Chinese merchants were
honorable in their dealings.
It appeared from the evidence that they did not de-
sire to become citizens nor to possess the ballot ; and
that to give the latter to them would practically destroy
republican institutions on the Pacific coast, as they
would be controlled by their " head-men," who would
sell their votes, and that they had no comprehension of
any form of government but despotism. It was also
stated that they had a quasi government among them-
selves, independent of American laws, authorizing pun-
ishment of offenders against Chinese customs, even to
the taking of life.
The committee recommended that measures be adopted
by the executive looking to a modification of the exist-
ing treaty with China, confining it to strictly commer-
cial purposes, and that Congress legislate to restrain the
great influx of Asiatics. It was not believed that either
of these measures would be looked upon with disfavor
by China. But whether so or not, a duty was owing
to the Pacific States, which were suffering under a ter-
rible scourge, and were patiently waiting for relief from
Congress.
Senator Morton, having died before reaching Wash-
ington, was not a participant in the concluding confer-
ences at which the report of the committee was com-
pleted. From his strong personality, his great influence
in Congress, and his powers of debate, it was fair to
presume that, his life being spared, if he had not been
290 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
able to control the report of the committee, he would
at least have so restrained the legislation of Congress
as to have prevented the radical action taken by that
body. He had prepared material which he designed to
have incorporated in the report of the joint committee.
These papers were submitted to the Senate after his
death as embodying his views, and constituted a mi-
nority report.
He called attention to the " great and eternal doc-
trines of the equality and natural rights of man," which
were the foundation-stone of the political system of the
United States. Believing " that God has given to all
men the same rights, without regard to race or color,"
it became a cardinal principle of the government, " pro-
claimed in the Declaration of Independence, in the Ar-
ticles of Confederation, and recognized by our Consti-
tution, that our country was open to immigrants from
all parts of the world ; " and that this invitation could
not and ought not to be limited or controlled by race
or color, by the character of the civilization, nor by the
religious faith of the immigrants.
He referred to the great objections which had been
urged to the Chinese and Japanese — their exclusive-
ness, their refusal to permit the people of other nations
to settle in or travel through their countries and acquire
a knowledge of their institutions. Now when the doors
of China and Japan were thrown open, and Americans
had the right to live there, to do business, and had
complete protection, it was proposed to take a step
backward by the adoption of their cast-off policy of
exclusion. The argument set up in favor of this was
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 291
precisely what was so long used to excuse or justify the
same policy in China and Japan, viz., that the admis-
sion of foreigners tended to interfere with their trade
and the labor of their people, and to corrupt their
morals and degrade their religion. Our only absolute
security, he said, consisted in devotion to the doctrines
upon which the government was founded, and that the
profound conviction that the rights of men are not con-
ferred by constitutions, which may be altered or abol-
ished, but are God-given to every human being.
The senator's conclusion from the investigations of
the committee was that the difference of the Chinese in
color, dress, manners, and religion had more to do with
the hostility to them than their alleged vices or any
actual injury to the white people of California. It was
the resurrection of those odious race distinctions which
brought upon the United States the late Civil War,
and from which it fondly hoped that God in His provi-
dence had delivered it forever.
The testimony showed, according to the senator, that
the crops in California could not be harvested or taken
to market without the aid of Chinese labor; that the
railroads could not have been constructed without it ;
that it was doubtful if it had injuriously interfered with
the white people of that State ; that there was work for
all ; that the Chinese, by their labor, opened up large
avenues and demand for white labor ; that the first suc-
cessful introduction of manufactures there was by the
employment of Chinese labor, and as manufactories be-
came established, the employment of Chinese gradually
diminished, and white labor largely increased. The
292 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
inquiry failed to show that there was any considerable
number of white people in California out of employ-
men t, except those who were willfully idle — the hood-
lums and ruffians, — the most noisy in their outcry
against the Chinese. That there had been many in-
stances where Chinamen were employed in preference
to whites because of their cheaper labor, was undoubt-
edly true, but not to an extent that could furnish just
cause of complaint, requiring legislation or political
action for its redress.
The testimony, he asserted, showed that the intellec-
tual capacity of the Chinese is fully equal to that of the
whites. It also established the fact that Chinese labor
in California was as free as any other, and that there
was no form or semblance of slavery or serfdom among
them. The most of the Chinese immigrants were young,
unmarried men ; few families had come, and women were
imported for immoral purposes. It was also true that
they are peculiarly addicted to gambling, but probably
not more so than the early white settlers of California
when few had wives and families with them. This vice
was greatly to be deplored, but it was not so peculiarly
Chinese as to make it the basis of special legislation.
They were not addicted to the use of intoxicating
liquors, and kept no saloons. Their form of intemper-
ance was in the use of opium ; but it did not produce
violence, and the number who practiced it was smaller
than the number of whites who visit saloons and be-
come intoxicated.
The senator referred to the Burlingame treaty of
1868, and especially to its articles V., VI., and VII.,
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 293
which provided for free emigration, residence, or travel,
and the privileges of the educational institutions. When
this treaty was concluded, he said, it was regarded by
the whole nation as a grand triumph of American
diplomacy and principles. It was especially a recog-
nition by China of what might be called " the great
American doctrine " of the inherent and inalienable
right of man to change his home and his allegiance, —
a doctrine for the recognition of which by the govern-
ments of Europe the United States had been struggling
by negotiation ever since it had a national existence,
and had succeeded with them one by one.
In conclusion the chairman of the committee con-
tended that labor must needs be free, have complete
protection, and be left open to competition. Labor did
not require that a price be fixed by law, or that men
who live cheaply, and can work for lower wages, shall,
for that reason, be kept out of the country.1
The report of the committee was submitted just be-
fore the termination of the Forty-fourth Congress, in
February 27, 1877 ; but the subject was brought before
the next Congress, and after considerable discussion a
bill was passed through both houses which so greatly
restricted the immigration of Chinese into the United
States that, in the language of the President, it fell
" little short of its absolute exclusion," in direct viola-
tion of the Burlingame treaty of 1868. But in addi-
tion to this the bill provided for the abrogation of
i S. Report No. 689, 44th Cong. 2d Sess. ; Misc. Doc. No. 20, 45th
Cong. 2d Sess. As to immigration and the Six Companies, Speers's
China, chaps, xvi., xix., xx.
294 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Articles V. and VI. of the Burlingame treaty, relating
to the free immigration and residence of Chinese in the
United States.
This radical legislation indicated a great change in
public opinion since the Burlingame treaty was pro-
claimed with such gratification ten years before ; but
this open disregard of international obligations shocked
the moral sense of a large part of the American people,
and led to such an expression of public sentiment as
caused President Hayes to veto the bill, and it thus failed
to become a law. The President in his message on the
subject, while he appealed to Congress to " maintain
the public duty and the public honor," recognized that
the working of the Burlingame treaty had demonstrated
that some modification of it was necessary to secure the
country " against a larger and more rapid infusion of
this foreign race than our system of industry and soci-
ety can take up and assimilate with ease and safety,' '
and he expressed the opinion that, if the Chinese gov-
ernment was approached in the proper spirit, the desired
modification might be secured without the discredit to
the nation which would result from the proposed legis-
lation.
The President, in accordance with this policy, ap-
pointed in 1880 a commission, consisting of Dr. James
B. Angell, president of Michigan University, John T.
Swift, of California, and W. H. Trescot, a former assist-
ant secretary of state, to proceed to Peking and secure
by negotiation a change in the provisions of the treaty
of 1868 respecting the immigration of Chinese to the
United States. This commission was received in a
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 295
friendly spirit by the Chinese government, and within
two months after its arrival at the capital a treaty on
immigration was concluded and signed. By its pro-
visions there was conferred upon the government of the
United States, whenever in its opinion " the coming of
Chinese laborers to the United States, or their residence
therein, affects or threatens to affect the interests of
that country, . . . power to regulate, limit, or suspend
such coming or residence, but not absolutely to pro-
hibit it." This power to limit immigration was only to
apply to Chinese laborers, other classes of Chinese being
permitted to enter freely and reside in the United
States.
The Chinese government having in so gracious a
spirit yielded to the desires of the American commis-
sioners on the subject of immigration, the latter were
very ready to gratify the former in the matter of the
opium traffic, — a subject of extreme anxiety and em-
barrassment to the Chinese rulers. At their request a
commercial treaty was signed, in which it was stipulated
that "citizens of the United States shall not be per-
mitted to import opium into any of the open ports of
China, to transport it from one open port to another
open port, or to buy and sell opium in any of the open
ports of China ; " and this absolute prohibition was to
be enforced by appropriate legislation. A similar pro-
vision was inserted in the treaty of 1882 between the
United States and Korea.
After the commercial treaty had been executed, Dr.
Angell, the American minister at Peking and one of the
commissioners, transmitted to the Secretary of State a
296 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
communication received by him from Mr. W. N. Pe-
thick,1 an American citizen long resident in China, and
then the private secretary of the Chinese grand secretary,
Li Hung Chang, as indicative of the importance which
the Chinese attached to the opium prohibition contained
in that treaty. The letter is of much interest, for it re-
views the history of the opium traffic and the Chinese
view of it, and shows the high appreciation in imperial
circles of the action of the American commissioners. He
states that China has never consented to bear without
murmur the great wrong of the opium traffic which was
forced upon her ; neither has the government been in-
different to the spread of the evil. Blood and treasure
were spent freely in combating its introduction, and,
though defeated in war, the government has not re-
mained a silent or unfeeling witness of the blight
extending over the country. He says that the single
article of opium imported equals in value all other
goods brought into China, and is greater than all the
tea or all the silk (the two chief articles of export) sent
out of the country, — which show that the black stream
of pollution which has so long flowed out of India into
1 Mr. Pethick, after serving in the Union army during the Civil War,
at its close went to China, where he made himself master of its difficult
language, was engaged for some time as interpreter in the United States
legation and consulates, and for a number of years acted as the confiden-
tial secretary of Li Hung Chang. His influence upon that statesman and
upon Chinese politics was very decided, and always in the direction of
liberal ideas and progress. He was a man of much erudition, and is said
to have read in translation to Li several hundred English, French, and
German books. He assisted the latter in his peace negotiations of 1901,
and died at the close of that year, greatly respected in both Chinese and
foreign society.
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 297
China has been increasing in volume and spreading its
baneful influence wider and wider. Americans have
been engaged in the trade in common with other for-
eigners ; but the United States, by a bold and noble
declaration against opium, now stands in the right be-
fore the world and the God of nations. It has, he
writes, encouraged long deferred hope, confirmed oft-
defeated determination ; it has nerved the arm of the
government with new strength, and we shall see China
once again grappling with the monster that is stealing
away the prosperity and energies of her people.
But these hopes proved entirely illusory. Prince
Kung again urged the British government to stop the
importation of opium, upon the stipulation that its cul-
tivation in China would be prohibited, but the proposi-
tion was not entertained. An association was organized
in England to create a public sentiment in favor of the
suppression of the trade ; and Li Hung Chang, in an
interview with the American minister, Mr. Young, in
1882, spoke hopefully of its influence on the British
government, and gave him for transmittal to his gov-
ernment a copy of a letter which he had written to the
Anti-Opium Association, which presents the Chinese
view of the question with much force.
The following extract will indicate the spirit of the
letter : " Opium is a subject in the discussion of which
England and China can never meet on common ground.
China views the whole question from a moral stand-
point, England from a fiscal, England would sustain
a source of revenue in India, while China contends
for the lives and prosperity of her people. . . . The
298 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
present import duty on opium was established not from
choice, but because China submitted to the adverse de-
cision of arms. The war must be considered as China's
standing protest against legalizing such a revenue. . . .
The new treaty with the United States containing the
prohibitory clause against opium encourages the belief
that the broad principles of justice and feelings of
humanity will prevail in future relations between China
and the Western nations."
But the action of Dr. Angell and his colleagues in
inserting the opium prohibition in that treaty came too
late. The success which had attended the efforts of
the Japanese, a kindred race, shows that prohibition
can be made effective, but the evil had then become
too deeply rooted in China, and the revenue derived by
India from the trade was too important to be sur-
rendered.
It is gratifying to record that the government of the
United States from the beginning has sought to dis-
countenance the traffic. In the first treaty with China,
that of 1844, it was provided that "citizens of the
United States . . . who shall trade in opium or any
other contraband article of merchandise, shall be sub-
ject to be dealt with by the Chinese government with-
out being entitled to any countenance or protection
from that of the United States." When Mr. Reed
was sent out to negotiate the treaty of 1858, he was
instructed to say to the Chinese government that its
effort " to prevent the importation and consumption of
opium was a praiseworthy measure," and " that the
United States would not seek for its citizens the legal
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 299
establishment of the opium trade, nor would it uphold
them in any attempt to violate the laws of China by
the introduction of that article into the country." Dr.
Martin, who acted as interpreter on the occasion, states
that in the first draft of the treaty submitted by Mr.
Reed to the Chinese there was an article denouncing
and forbidding the opium trade, but that he was induced
by Lord Elgin, the British plenipotentiary, to withdraw
it, greatly to the surprise of the Chinese negotiators.
There is much to be said in commendation of the
British government in its relations with the Orient, but
its connection with the opium traffic of China has left
a dark and ineffaceable stain upon its record. In this
matter the greed of the East India Company and its
successor, the government of India, triumphed over the
moral sentiment of the nation, which has done so much
for the amelioration of the condition of mankind.1
In execution of the treaty of immigration of 1880,
the Congress of the United States passed an act in
1882 prohibiting or suspending the coming of Chinese
laborers into the country for a period of twenty years.
This second attempt of Congress to legislate respecting
Chinese immigration was met by a veto from President
Arthur, on the ground that a prohibition of immigra-
tion for so long a time as twenty years was not war-
ranted by the spirit of the treaty and was in violation
of the assurances given by the commission which nego-
tiated it that the large powers conferred on Congress
"would be exercised by our government with a wise
1 U. S. Treaties, 184 ; U. S. For. Rel. 1881, p. 216 ; 1883, pp. 123, 128 ;
S. Ex. Doc. 30, 36th Cong. 1st Sess. p. 8 ; Martin's Cathay, 184.
300 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
discretion, in a spirit of reciprocal and sincere friend-
ship, and with entire justice." The President, in call-
ing the attention of Congress to these assurances and
to the concession made by China granting the power to
fix limitations upon the coming of Chinese laborers,
said : " China may therefore fairly have a right to ex-
pect that in enforcing them we will take good care not
to overstep the grant and take more than has been
conceded to us." Congress gave heed to the appeal
of the President, and modified the proposed legisla-
tion by limiting the suspension of the immigration of
Chinese laborers to ten years.
The treaty of 1880 contained a stipulation that the
Chinese laborers in the United States at the time of its
signature should be permitted to leave the country and
return " of their own free will and accord." Before
the ten years period of prohibition of immigration had
expired a demand was made upon Congress for the
enactment of more stringent legislation, based upon
the allegation that fraud was being practiced in the
exercise of the privilege granted by the treaty of the
departure and return of laborers. It was charged that
Chinese, after having resided in the United States for
several years and acquired a competency, returned to
China where they remained, and that other Chinese
falsely assumed their personality and thus unlawfully
secured admittance into the United States.
To remedy this defect a new treaty was negotiated
between the Secretary of State and the Chinese minis-
ter in Washington in 1888, whereby the privilege of
the departure and return of Chinese laborers lawfully
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 301
in the United States was restricted to those who had
property to the value of $1000, or a wife or children
in the country, and the government of the United
States was authorized to adopt suitable regulations to
prevent fraud. Provision was also made in the treaty
for an indemnity to be paid the Chinese government to
compensate for the loss of life and property of Chinese
laborers occasioned by riots at Rock Springs in Wyom-
ing, Tacoma in the State of Washington, and at other
places, growing out of the antipathy and opposition to
Chinese.
The treaty was ratified by the Senate of the United
States with certain amendments, and the Chinese gov-
ernment likewise proposed amendments. While these
negotiations were taking place a presidential electoral
campaign was in progress, the labor unions of the
Pacific States were especially clamorous for the adop-
tion of further restrictions on Chinese immigration,
and the votes of those States seemed likely to be cast
in favor of the presidential candidate whose party was
most radical in its opposition to the Chinese. Under
the spur of the exigencies of the campaign and the
uncertainty of the ratification of the new treaty by the
Chinese government, a law was hastily passed through
Congress absolutely prohibiting the admittance of Chi-
nese laborers into the United States. Although this
legislation, known as the Scott Act, was in direct viola-
tion of treaty, President Cleveland allowed it to become
a law, justifying his action by the failure of China to
ratify the new treaty ; but he recommended that the
indemnity provided for in the treaty on account of the
302 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
riots be paid to China, and the sum of $276,619 was
accordingly appropriated by Congress for that pur-
pose.
The President was, however, unwilling to allow the
stain of treaty violation to rest upon the honor of the
United States, and the Secretary of State entered anew
into negotiations with the Chinese minister in Wash"
ington, which resulted in the signature of a treaty in
1894 similar in most respects to the unratified treaty
of 1888, and which was accepted by both governments.
The treaty of 1894 stipulated for the prohibition by
the United States of the admission of Chinese laborers
for the term of ten years. In anticipation of the
expiration of that term the Fifty-seventh Congress
took up the subject of the reenactment of the existing
legislation, which would come to an end by limita-
tion. The sentiment against Chinese immigration had
strengthened with the lapse of time, under the increas-
ing political influence of labor organizations, and bills
of like character which added still further restrictions
to those in the existing laws were reported by the
respective committees in the two houses. The prohi-
bition of the immigration of Chinese laborers was made
perpetual; those lawfully in the United States were
not to be permitted to pass to or from the insular pos-
sessions and the mainland territory; conditions were
added to the admission of merchants, scholars, teachers,
and travelers which amounted almost to a prohibition ;
limitations were placed upon the transit of Chinese
laborers through the territory of the United States en
route to other countries; and other provisions were
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 303
proposed which it was asserted were in conflict with
the treaties with China. It was claimed that these
additional measures were made necessary by the frauds
practiced by the Chinese laborers in their great desire
to gain admittance to the United States.
The bill from the committee passed the House of
Representatives without much opposition, but the sub-
ject caused an animated debate in the Senate. Senator
Lodge, who was one of the ablest supporters of the
bill, at the close of a lengthy speech on the subject,
based his opposition to immigration of the Chinese
upon two grounds. He said : " The first reason is that
they are members not of a new malleable people who
can come here and adopt our methods and imbibe our
ideas. They are members of an old and immutable
civilization. They never can form a part of a body
of American citizenship. They do not wish to do so.
They would not do so if they could. They have come
here simply for profit. A great race that means to do
that and nothing else in the United States is better
outside the line than inside. And, second, I am in
favor of Chinese exclusion because the Chinese can
create economic conditions in which we cannot survive.
It is not a question of the fittest surviving, but a ques-
tion of the survival of the fittest to survive. The best
do not necessarily survive, and here we have a people
450,000,000 strong, who can produce an environment
and a standard under which we cannot live."
The senators who opposed the passage of the bill
conceded that the further coming of Chinese laborers
to the United States should be prohibited; but they
304 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
contended that those in the country should not be
treated unjustly or harshly; that the census reports
showed that the Chinese population in the country was
decreasing, and hence there was no occasion to enact
more restrictive measures; and, above all, that there
should be no legislation which would look towards a
disregard of treaty stipulations. It was also urged
that it was bad policy to adopt measures which would
offend the Chinese people at a time when earnest efforts
were being made to increase commercial relations with
that country.
The result of. the debate was the defeat of the bill
embodying the stringent provisions proposed by the
committee, and the adoption of a substitute offered by
Senator Piatt, of Connecticut, which continued in force
the existing laws and regulations, not inconsistent with
the treaty, until 1904, or until a new treaty should be
made.1 It was a distinct defeat of the anti-Chinese
extremists and a clear indication that the sober public
1 7 Presidents' Messages, 514 ; 8 lb. 113, 634 ; U. S. For. Rel. 1881,
China ; lb. 1888, China ; lb. 1894, China ; U. S. Treaties, 182 ; U. S.
Treaties in Force (ed. 1899), 122 ; Chinese Immigration, by S. Wells
Williams, New York, 1877 ; 2 Blaine's Twenty Years in Congress, 651.
For debate in Senate, 1902, Cong. Record, 57th Cong. 1st Sess. pp. 3880-
4509, 5050, 5051. For laws of Congress as to Chinese immigration, 22
Stat, at Large, 58 ; 23 lb. 115 ; 25 lb. 476, 504 ; 27 lb. 25 ; 28 lb. 7 ;
and Act of April 29, 1902. For comments on legislation, N. A. Rev.
July, 1893, p. 52 ; Hon. Charles Denby in Forum, July-Sept. 1902 ;
Report on Certain Economic Questions in the Orient, by Prof. J. W.
Jenks, War Department, Washington, 1902, Chinese Immigration in
Colonies, chap, iii., Chinese Immigration to the Philippines, 157. The
Acts of Congress respecting immigration have been frequently considered
by the U. S. Supreme Court. The leading case is Fong Yue Ting et al. v.
United States, 149 U. S. Reports, 689.
CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION 305
opinion of the country favored a faithful adherence to
treaty obligations.
From the foregoing narrative it is seen that a radical
change in public opinion respecting Chinese immigra-
tion has taken place in the United States since the
Burlingame treaty was proclaimed with so much pride
and satisfaction in 1868. Even the lofty and noble
sentiments embodied in the minority report of Senator
Morton in 1877 have given place to a more perfect
realization of the economic conditions as shown by ex-
perience. While the principle of expatriation is still
adhered to and insisted upon by the government of the
United States, it holds that citizenship is a privilege to
be conferred and not a right which can be claimed by
every foreigner who enters the country. It maintains,
further, the right to exclude from its territory any class
of people whose coming it may judge to be harmful or
undesirable. A majority of the people of the United
States have reached the conviction that it is not wise
to allow the free and unrestricted immigration of people
of the Asiatic races, and that it is especially desirable
to exclude Chinese laborers from its territory.
On the other hand, it has been seen that the gov-
ernment of the United States is unwilling to allow the
reproach to attach to it of a disregard of treaty obliga-
tions. When in time of political excitement the popular
branch of the government has temporarily yielded to
public clamor, the executive head of the government
has not failed to interpose, and in every instance Con-
gress has listened to the voice of reason and the appeal
to national honor, and has corrected its legislation to
306 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
meet the views of the executive department, which con-
ducts the foreign intercourse.
It has also been seen that the government of China
has in this matter shown a commendable spirit of f riend-
liness and concession. It allowed the Burlingame treaty
to be framed to suit the views of the United States.
When it became apparent that a change in public sen-
timent in the latter country had taken place, it acqui-
esced in the request for a radical modification of that
treaty which materially restricted the privileges of its
own subjects. And a second time, when it was ap-
proached for another treaty change, it consented to
limit still further the treaty rights of its people. The
outrages which they have at times suffered by mob
violence or at the hands of overzealous officials are not
attributed to the ill-will of the government of the United
States, neither has the harsh legislation, much as it is
regretted, been allowed to change the friendly relations
of the two nations. Each recognizes the difficulties of
internal administration, and does not require of the
other impossible conditions.
IX
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS
Korea, or Chosen, as it is officially styled, — the Land
of the Morning Calm, — has been for ages the scene of
conflict between its ambitious neighbors. Its geograph-
ical position, a peninsula extending into waters which
wash the shores of powerful and rival nations on the
east, north, and west, has made it a constant sufferer
from invading armies, kept it in subjection, and wasted
its resources. It has been fitly termed " the Naboth's
Vineyard of the Far East," coveted by great nations
both in ancient and modern times.
Its people lay claim to a history of four thousand
years. Centuries before the Christian era it had expe-
rienced invasion both from China and Japan, and
through the succeeding ages it was dominated by one
or the other at recurring periods. When the Mongols
became powerful under the Manchu sovereigns, and be-
fore their conquest of China, Korea felt the devastating
effects of their armies. In modern times the kingdom
sent embassies and paid tribute concurrently to China
and Japan, up to 1832, when these evidences of vassal-
age ceased respecting Japan, though China continued
to exercise suzerainty until her overlordship was com-
pletely removed by the late Chinese- Japanese war.
During the last half of the nineteenth century Korean
308 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
territory has been invaded by four of the nations of
the West, France, the United States, Great Britain, and
Russia. To-day it is a threatening cause of conflict
between Japan and Russia.
European commercial activity, which followed the
maritime discoveries of the Portuguese in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, found nothing to attract it in
poverty-stricken Korea, exhausted by war and taxation.
The first recorded formal attempt to open trade with
Korea took place in 1832, when the British East India
Company fitted out a ship at Canton and sent her on a
voyage of commercial exploration to that country. Dr.
Gutzlaff, the German missionary, then in the service of
the American Board of Missions, went as a passenger
in the hope of finding an opening for mission work.
The vessel spent a month on the southern coast, and
presents were sent to the king of Korea, but they were
refused by him. Dr. Gutzlaff, through his knowledge
of the Chinese language, was able to communicate with
the natives, and occupied himself with medical atten-
tion to the people, planting potatoes and teaching their
cultivation, and with futile efforts at the distribution of
Bibles and works on geography and mathematics in
Chinese translations. The expedition was both a com-
mercial and religious failure.1
1 For account of early Dutch intercourse (1653), Narrative of an Un-
lucky Voyage and Shipwreck on the Coast of Corea, by Henry Hamel,
republished in Corea, Without and Within, by W. E. Griffis, Philadel-
phia, 1885. Voyages along the Coast of China, etc., by Charles Gutz-
laff, New York, 1833, pp. 254, 332. Corea, The Hermit Nation, by
W. E. Griffis, New York, 1897, pp. 169, 359 ; China and Her Neighbors,
by R. S. Gundry, London, 1893.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 309
The first effort to introduce Christianity into Korea
was in 1783, and had its origin with the French Jes-
uits then established at Peking. Although the new
religion was strictly forbidden, and its propagators and
adherents were visited with bitter persecution, for three
quarters of a century the Catholic missionaries, with a
heroic devotion undaunted by expulsion and death,
persisted in their efforts and were rewarded by some
degree of success. During this period measures were
adopted at various times for the extermination of the
hated foreign sect, but the work of the missions was
prosecuted in secret, and the native Christians by thou-
sands continued true to their faith.
In 1866 a fresh outbreak of persecution occurred,
and the government resolved to utterly extirpate the
foreign religion. Three bishops and seventeen priests
were cruelly put to death by the express order of the
authorities, and only three escaped and fled to China.
The martyrdom of the foreign clergy was also attended
with the slaughter of several thousand native converts.
The missionaries executed by the government were,
with few exceptions, French subjects, and the diplo-
matic representative of Napoleon III. at Peking imme-
diately took steps to inflict exemplary punishment upon
the Koreans.
In October, 1866, the French admiral, with six ves- ]
sels and 600 men, reached Korean waters in the vicin- \
ity of Chemulpo, destined for the capital to dethrone
the king and punish his officials for the murder of the
French clergy. He captured and burned Kang-wa, a
city of 20,000 inhabitants, situated on an island in the
310 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
bay, but found the Korean army gathered in large force
to dispute his progress. A portion of his command fell
into an ambush, suffered heavy loss, and were forced to
retreat. Minister Burlingame, in his report of the ex-
pedition, wrote : " Admiral Roze, probably finding that
nothing could be done with his limited force, left Co-
rea to recruit it, with which he cannot return until next
spring or summer." But when the news of the failure
reached Napoleon, he had other and more pressing need
for his army and navy, and after the war with Ger-
many the new French government was content to drop
the Korean affair.1
It was least to be expected that the United States
would be the next nation to engage in a conflict with
this far-off country, but an event occurred in the same
year the French priests were executed which was to
bring about such a result. On the 8th of August,
1866, an American schooner, the General Sherman,
chartered by a British firm in Tientsin and laden by
it with a cargo of merchandise, left Chefoo, China, for
Korea on a trading venture. It had on board three
Americans, the captain, mate, and overseer, two British
subjects, the supercargo and interpreter, and a crew of
fifteen or twenty Chinese. The vessel entered the Ta
Tong River and ascended it to the vicinity of Ping An,
where a few days afterwards the entire crew were killed
and the vessel burned.
The accounts differ as to the circumstances attending
1 Histoire de PEglise de Corde, par Ch. Dallet, Paris, 1874 ; Griffis's
Corea, The Hermit Kingdom, pp. 373, 577 ; Gundry's China, 228 ; U. S.
Dip. Cor. 1866, p. 536 ; 1867, pp. 416, 419-426.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 311
this event. The Korean government reported that the
crew provoked an altercation with the people of the
vicinity which resulted in the death of the crew and
destruction of the vessel. Another account was that
the crew were taken prisoners by the governor of the
province and decapitated by order of the king. Two
American naval vessels, dispatched in 1866 and 1867 to
the vicinity, brought back the same conflicting reports.
The vessel was engaged in an illicit trade, as all
intercourse with foreigners was forbidden by Korean
law. A most unfavorable time was selected for the voy-
age, following the massacre of the foreign missionaries
and the Christians, and when the French government
was in active preparation for its warlike expedition.
It was currently reported that one object of the voyage
was to plunder the tombs of the kings at Ping An, and
the fact that the schooner was heavily armed lent color
to this report. This latter fact, in the opinion of Mr.
Burlingame, may have led the Koreans to confound
them with the French.
Two months before the destruction of the General
Sherman, another American ship, the Surprise, was
wrecked on the Korean coast. The crew were kindly
treated by the authorities, transported on horseback and
with all necessary comforts to the northern frontier, and
delivered to the Chinese officials. By the latter they
were harshly received and they secured their release only
through the intervention of a Catholic priest, who was
presented by Congress with a gold watch for his kind-
ness, accompanied by the thanks of the President.
Minister Burlingame reported the case of the General
312 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Sherman to the American admiral on the Asiatic sta-
tion, with a suggestion that he inquire into the facts
and report the same to the government at Washington
for instructions. The case was likewise reported by the
British minister to the British naval commander. In
view of these events Mr. Burlingame anticipated that
a large fleet of French, American, and British vessels
would be in Korean waters the next year, and he wrote
the Secretary of State : " If my advice can have any
weight, it will be that our presence there should rather
restrain than promote aggression, and serve to limit
action to such satisfaction only as great and civilized
nations should, under the circumstances, have from the
ignorant and weak." Unfortunately Mr. Burlingame
did not remain in the legation, and other counsels pre-
vailed at Washington.
The investigations made by the American vessels
sent by the admiral to Korea did not seem to justify
any action and none was taken. The same course was
adopted by the British government. But a year later
the United States consul-general at Shanghai, Mr.
George F. Seward, reported to the Secretary of State
that he had learned of the arrival at Shanghai of a
Catholic priest and a party of Koreans, who had been
sent by the Korean government to ascertain if an em-
bassy would be kindly received if sent to America and
France to explain and make reparation for the destruc-
tion of the General Sherman and the murder of the
French missionaries. His informant, also, told Mr.
Seward that Korea was ready to make commercial trea-
ties and open up the country to foreign trade.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 313
Upon this information the consul-general proposed
that he be sent to Korea, with a naval force consisting
of two or more of the men-of-war on the Asiatic sta-
tion, " to ask for an official explanation of the Sherman
affair, and to negotiate, if possible, a treaty of amity
and of commerce." Secretary Fish communicated this
information to the American minister at Peking, Mr.
Low, and stated to him that " it has been decided to
authorize negotiations to be had with the authorities of
Corea, for the purpose of securing a treaty for the pro-
tection of shipwrecked mariners, and to intrust the
conduct of the negotiations to you. Should the oppor-
tunity seem favorable for obtaining commercial advan-
tages in Corea, the proposed treaty should include
provisions to that effect." Reference has been made
to the resolution introduced in Congress in 1845, look-
ing to the opening of trade with Korea (page 142) and
the subject had been from that date in the mind of the
government. Mr. Low was instructed " to exercise pru-
dence and discretion, to maintain firmly the right of
the United States to have their seamen protected, and
to avoid a conflict by force unless it cannot be avoided
without dishonor." He was also informed that the
admiral in command of the Asiatic squadron had been
directed to accompany him, "with a display of force
adequate to support the dignity of the United States."
From the outset Mr. Low manifested a want of confi-
dence in the expedition, but he entered resolutely upon
the execution of the instructions of his government.
Admiral Rodgers and Consul-General Seward were in-
vited to Peking for conference, and the Chinese gov-
314 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
eminent was asked to notify the Korean authorities of
the coming of the American minister and the object
of his visit. The Tsung-li Yamen replied " that though
Corea is regarded as a country subordinate to China,
yet she is wholly independent in everything that relates
to her government, her religion, her prohibitions, and
her laws," and that though the request "was an ex-
traordinary favor, quite in excess of usage/' the notice
would be sent.
On May 30, 1871, the American minister, escorted
by Admiral Rodgers in his flagship, with four other
naval vessels, appeared in Korean waters near Che-
mulpo, the harbor nearest to the capital. Some diffi-
culty was experienced in finding officials with whom to
communicate, but notice was given that the mission of
the squadron was peaceful, that it would remain in the
vicinity till communication could be had with the king,
and that meanwhile some of the ships would be sent up
the channel nearer the capital to make surveys. Two
days after their arrival, two of the vessels, with four
steam launches started up the narrow channel leading
to the city of Kang-wa destroyed by the French, and
the sea-gate to the capital. Here they were fired upon
by the Korean forts. The fire was returned by the
ships and the forts silenced without loss on the part of
the Americans.
This action satisfied Mr. Low that the government
of Korea was determined to resist all intercourse and
that his mission was a failure. Nothing remained to
be done, in his opinion, but to prevent this attack from
being construed into a defeat of the " barbarians " and
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 315
from injuring American prestige in China. It was
decided to demand from the local authorities an apo-
logy for this attack, and, in its default, to inflict some
exemplary punishment. On June 10, ten days having
expired without the receipt of the requisite apology, a
force of seven hundred and fifty men was landed from
the squadron and destroyed the forts which had fired
upon the vessels, it having been determined to confine
the punitive operations to them.
The loss of the Americans was three killed and nine
wounded. Among the killed was Lieutenant McKee,
who in the assault was the first to mount the parapet
and leap inside the fort. His father had fallen in the
Mexican war at the head of his men.1 Mr. Low reports
that " about two hundred and fifty of the enemy's dead
were counted lying on the field, fifty flags, and several
prisoners of war were captured and brought away. . . .
All accounts concur in the statement that the Coreans
fought with desperation, rarely equaled and never ex-
celled by any people." Such is the record of America's
first contact with the Hermit Kingdom.
During the interval between the first attack and the
assault upon the forts, some interesting correspond-
ence had taken place between the Korean officials and
Minister Low. Two days after the first firing upon
the vessels the governor of the province sent him a
1 " In the chapel of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, a tasteful mural
tablet ' erected by his brother naval officers of the Asiatic squadron/ with
the naval emblems — sword, belt, anchor, and glory-wreath — in medal-
lion, and inscription on a shield beneath, keeps green the memory of an
unselfish patriot and a gallant officer." Griffis's Corea, The Hermit King-
dom, 418.
316 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
communication protesting against the armed vessels en-
tering into the narrow strait whose passage was guarded
by forts. He says : " Our kingdom is placed east of
the Eastern sea. Your honored country is located west
of the Western ocean. All wind and sands for the
extent of 70,000 li. For four thousand years there has
been no communication between your country and ours.
It may be said that it is Heaven's limitation that has
placed us so remote from each other, and earth that
has hung us so far apart as to cut us off from each
other. . . . There has formerly been not a particle of
ill feeling between us. Why should arms now drag us
into mutual resentment ? If you ask us to negotiate
and carry our friendly relations, then let me ask how
can four thousand years' ceremonies, music, literature,
and all things, be, without sufficient reason, broken up
and cast away ? ... It would be better early to make
out a right course of action and each remain peacefully
in his own place. We inform you that you may ponder
and be enlightened." Wisely did Mr. Low conclude
that further negotiation with such a people, either by
diplomacy or the cannon, would be of no avail.
On his return to China the minister felt it his duty
to report to the Department of State that the informa-
tion upon which Secretary Fish had ordered the expedi-
tion was entirely without foundation. " I feel bound
to say," he wrote, " that the consul-general's informant
fabricated, for ulterior and base purposes, the infor-
mation embodied in the dispatches before referred to.
There is no reason to suppose that it contained the
least shadow of truth." The President in his annual
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 317
message of 1871 reported the facts to Congress, with
copies of the correspondence, and said, " I leave the sub-
ject for such action as Congress may see fit to take."
But there was no further action, as none could properly
be taken respecting an unwarranted enterprise so injudi-
ciously inaugurated, which placed the American minis-
ter and the navy in a false light before the world, and
which may be regarded as the most serious blunder of
American diplomacy in the Orient.1
The official record is sufficiently humiliating to Amer-
icans, but a vein of the ludicrous is given to it when
it is learned from Consul-General Seward's reports that
his informant was an American adventurer named
Jenkins, who had misled him deliberately to cover
an unlawful expedition which he was then organizing
in conjunction with a French priest and a German
described by Mr. Seward as a Hamburg citizen and
referred to by historians of the country as a " Jewish
peddler." The priest joined the expedition in the
hope that it might be the means of opening the coun-
try to missions, he having been expelled from it. Mr.
Seward says the expedition had "for its object to
exhume the remains of a dead sovereign, and to hold
the bones for profit."
The money to charter and arm a vessel flying the
German flag was furnished by Jenkins. The German,
who had made several surreptitious visits to Korea,
directed the movement. With a crew of Chinese and
1 U. S. Dip. Cor. 1867, pt. i. 414, 427, 459 ; 1868, pt. i. 544-551 ;
For. Rel. 1870, pp. 333-339, 362 ; 1871, pp. 73, 111, 115, 127-149 ; 1874,
p. 254 ; 7 Presidents' Messages, 145, Ex. Doc. 1 pt. 3, 42d Cong. 2d
Sess. 275 ; Griffis' Corea, 391-395 ; 503-419 ; Gundry's China, 240.
318 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Manila-men a descent was made on the Korean coast
and the locality of the tomb reached. The earth was
removed from the mound, but the sarcophagus was
found to be too strong for the shovels and other instru-
ments carried by the workmen. On the return of the
armed party to the vessel, one of the crew captured a
calf, and was carrying it away when he was attacked
by the natives and a general conflict followed, result-
ing in the loss of some of the crew and the killing of
a number of the Koreans. This action defeated the
object of the expedition and the party returned to
Shanghai, where Mr. Seward caused the arrest and trial
of Jenkins, on the charge of fitting out a hostile expe-
dition. He was acquitted upon a Scotch verdict of
" not proven," but Mr. Seward states that there was no
question of his guilty connection with the disgraceful
affair.1
Just before the massacre of the French and native
Christians in 1866 a Kussian man-of-war appeared off
Gensan, a port on the eastern side of the peninsula,
and demanded the right to trade, but the request was
refused. In 1869 the German minister to Japan made
a visit to the Japanese settlement at Fusan, and sought
through a Japanese, whom he had brought on his ship,
to open negotiations ; but the Korean authorities not
only refused to receive the proposals, but threatened to
break off all relations with the Japanese settlement if
the effort was persisted in ; whereupon the minister
quietly returned to his post at Tokio.
1 U. S. Dip. Cor. 1868, pt. i. 548 ; For. Rel. 1870, p. 337 ; Griffis's
Corea, chap xlv.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 319
The visits of the French and American squadrons
and their withdrawal without accomplishing their pur-
pose were interpreted by the Koreans as great military
triumphs, and made them even more determined in
their policy of exclusion over the foreigners. For some
years after these events the Western powers desisted
from further attempts to hold intercourse with them.
The Japanese, after the reinstatement of the Mikado
in power, made an effort to have the former relations
between the two governments reestablished, with a
renewal of the Korean embassies and tribute, but the
effort was haughtily rejected by the Koreans, influ-
enced, it is believed, to this course by the Chinese.
Further attempts which were made to establish inter-
course were futile, and the Japanese settlement at
Fusan on the southern end of the peninsula was greatly
restricted in its privileges. The Japanese were incensed
at this treatment, and a large party in the country
looked forward hopefully to another conflict with their
neighbors which might bring them again under subjec-
tion to the Island Empire.
An opportunity to realize their hopes seemed to offer
itself in 1875, when a Japanese man-of-war, cruising
along the coast, was attacked by the same forts which
had been the scene of conflict with the French and
American squadrons. Japan seemed ready to declare
war, but more sober counsels prevailed, and it was
determined first to send a mission to Korea and solicit
a treaty of intercourse and commerce. If such a treaty
should be refused, war was to follow. An able repre-
sentative was sent to Peking to notify the Chinese
320 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
government of the purpose of Japan in dispatching a
mission to Korea, and to ascertain whether its suzerain
authority would be infringed by this act. The Chinese
government, fearing it might be held responsible for
the acts of Korea against the French and Americans,
disclaimed any control over that kingdom in its treaty
relations, which left Japan free to pursue its plans.
The mission, consisting of a prominent general of
the army and Inouye Kaoru, an experienced statesman,
was accompanied by two men-of-war and three trans-
ports carrying a force of eight hundred marines. The
squadron anchored in the same waters as their French
and American predecessors. Acting upon the advice
of the Chinese government, the Korean king sent a
deputation to meet the Japanese commissioners and
with little delay a treaty of amity and commerce was
signed, February 27, 1876, Korea being unwilling to
risk a conflict with its more powerful neighbor by a
further refusal of intercourse.
By the terms of the treaty the independence of
Korea was recognized, three Korean ports were to be
opened to Japanese trade, and a diplomatic minister
was to reside at Seoul, the capital. The Korean com-
missioners during the negotiations made it clear that
the treaty was to be confined in its application to
Japan and that all Western nations were to be excluded
from its benefits. They also pleaded with the Japa-
nese to exert their influence to prevent strangers from
a distance attempting to visit their country. The same
spirit was shown in the dispatch of the Korean embassy
to Tokio after the signature of the treaty. It came, as
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 321
similar Korean embassies had come centuries before,
with great display of barbaric splendor, the ambassador
being borne on a platform covered with tiger skins,
and resting on the shoulders of eight men, with a
servant bearing an umbrella of state over his head.
During his stay in Japan he resisted all attempts of
foreigners, officials or others, to have any intercourse
with him. The treaty was rather a renewal of the
ancient relations, than a manifestation of any disposi-
tion to open the country to foreign intercourse.1
Encouraged, however, by the success of the Japa-
nese, various European nations continued their efforts
to communicate with the government at Seoul. A
British vessel was wrecked on the island of Quelpart in
1878, and the Koreans rescued the crew, salved the
cargo, provided transportation for both to Nagasaki,
and refused to accept any compensation for their ser-
vices. Taking advantage of this event, the British
secretary of legation at Tokio was sent in a British
naval vessel, ostensibly to make formal acknowledg-
ment of this worthy conduct, but with instructions to
establish permanent intercourse with the Korean au-
thorities, if possible ; but his mission to that end was a
failure.
Other attempts followed in 1880 and 1881. Russian,
British, and French naval vessels touched at different
ports, and sought to communicate with the authorities
1 Leading Men of Japan, by Charles Lanman, New York, 1883, pp.
356-386 ; Griffis's Corea, 420-423 ; U. S. For. Rel. 1876, pp. 370, 376 ;
Gundry's China, 244 ; Problems of the Far East, by George N. Curzon,
1896, p. 191.
322 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
at Seoul, but all their applications were firmly declined.
The Duke of Genoa, making a tour of the world in an
Italian man-of-war, touched at Fusan, hoping through
the Japanese agents at that settlement to effect some
communication with the king, hut the local officials re-
fused to receive or forward his letters. Not discouraged,
he went to Gensan, and spent some time in the harbor
of Port Lazareff, establishing pleasant relations with
the local authorities. He threatened that unless they
transmitted his letter to the king at the capital he would
land a force of marines and send it by them ; but the
most he could accomplish was to have the prefect of
the port make a copy of his letter, with the promise to
send it with his report of the visit to the governor of
the province.1
But notwithstanding this outward show of a fixed
determination to keep the " Land of the Morning Calm"
in strict seclusion, influences were at work which were
destined to bring about a change in the policy of the
government. Members of the embassy to Japan, after
seeing the advance of that country under foreign influ-
ence, had returned with modified views as to the true
interests of their people. The presence at Seoul of
Japanese and Chinese diplomatic officials and of sol-
diers armed and drilled in Western style were affording
an insight, even though imperfect, of the benefits of
modern civilization.
In 1881 a Korean attached to the Chinese legation
in Japan sent a notable memorial to the king, which
attracted great attention at the court of Seoul. He
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1879, p. 612 ; Griffis's Corea, 426, 428 ; Gimdry's
China, 245.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 323
pointed out that the most threatening danger to his
country was from Russia, and that it should abandon
its seclusion and look for friends among the Western
nations as well as China and Japan. Of these nations,
he said, the one most friendly to Asiatic countries was
the United States, and he urged the king to secure its
friendship by a treaty. The memorial reached the cap-
ital at a favorable time, as a change of administration
had brought liberal advisers into power. On the re-
turn of the author to Seoul, delegates were sent to
Tientsin to confer with the viceroy Li Hung Chang,
who at that time was directing the foreign policy of
China. That shrewd statesman readily saw that Korea
could not maintain its policy of seclusion, and he en-
couraged the plan of a treaty with the United States.
The failure of the ill-advised expedition of 1871 had
not discouraged the government at Washington, and it
still cherished the hope of securing a commercial foot-
hold in the kingdom. In 1878 Senator Sargent, of
California, introduced a resolution requesting the Presi-
dent to " appoint a commissioner to represent this coun-
try in an effort to arrange, by peaceful means, ... a
treaty of peace and commerce between the United States
and the kingdom of Corea." In a speech which he
made on this resolution the senator justified the action
of the Koreans respecting the General Sherman, and
condemned the attacks upon the forts by the navy in
1871. Although no formal action was taken on the
resolution, the following year Commodore R. W. Shu-
feldt was dispatched in a naval vessel to the China
seas, with instructions to make, if possible, a treaty with
324 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Korea. He visited Fusan in 1880 in an effort to exe-
cute his instructions, and met with the same refusal
that other foreign officials had experienced. But the
American legation in Peking had received intimations
of the change of sentiment in the Korean court, and
Commodore Shufeldt was temporarily detached from sea
service and ordered to report to the minister at the
Chinese capital, with the object of studying the situa-
tion of affairs, so that he might be prepared to take
advantage of any favorable opportunity which should
present itself in Korea.
The commodore spent the winter of 1881-2 in Pe-
king, and by March it became known to the legation
through Li Hung Chang that the Korean government
was willing to enter into a treaty with the United
States. As soon as the season would permit, steps
were taken to make ready a naval vessel, and on May
7 Commodore Shufeldt in a United States man-of-war
arrived at Chemulpo, with full power to negotiate and
sign a treaty. He was accompanied by three Chinese
naval vessels bearing Chinese commissioners, likewise
authorized to make a treaty on behalf of China. Both
parties being of the same mind as to the general object,
little time was required to agree upon the details. On
May 24, 1882, a " treaty of peace, amity, commerce and
navigation " between the United States and the king-
dom of Korea was signed, with simple ceremonies, in a
temporary pavilion on the shore opposite the anchorage
of the commodore's vessel, and the "Hermit Kingdom"
of the East entered into the family of nations under the
auspices of the young republic of the West.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 325
Commodore Shufeldt had, at the date of the signing
of the treaty, served forty-three years in the navy, dur-
ing which he had performed important duties in connec-
tion with the slave trade and in the Civil War. This
diplomatic mission did not come to him by chance, but
he, like Perry, was selected for it because of his fitness
to perform its duties. He had discharged with credit
a diplomatic trust in Mexico during the Civil War, and
had made himself conversant with Korean affairs by
two previous visits to that country. His last diplomatic
success added another worthy page to the history of
the peaceful achievements of the American navy.
By the terms of the treaty the United States was ad-
mitted to trade in the three ports already opened to the
Japanese, and to such as might be afterwards opened to
foreign commerce ; diplomatic and consular officers were
to be received ; provision was made for the case of ship-
wrecked vessels, and other usual stipulations of com-
mercial treaties ; traffic in opium was prohibited ; and
exterritorial jurisdiction was given to American consuls,
— but the following provision was inserted : " When-
ever the king of Chosen shall have so far modified and
reformed the statutes and judicial procedure of his
kingdom that, in the judgment of the United States,
they conform to the laws and course of justice in the
United States, the right of exterritorial jurisdiction
over United States citizens in Chosen shall be aban-
doned ; " and the two countries were to be open to the
residence respectively of the citizens and subjects of
the other to pursue their callings and avocations.1
1 For Sargent resolution and speech, 7 Cong. Rec. pt. iii. pp. 2324,
326 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
A leading London journal, in announcing the sign-
ing of the American-Korean treaty, recalled the feat
accomplished thirty years before by Perry, who, " over-
coming obstacles which had baffled almost every Euro-
pean nation, and without firing a shot, or leaving ill-
feeling behind, succeeded in opening Japan to foreign
intercourse," and said : " The conclusion of a treaty
between the United States and Corea adds another to
the peaceful successes of American diplomacy in the far
East." And so it has resulted that the establishment of
intercourse with the Western world through the United
States has been regarded by the Koreans as a recogni-
tion of the disinterested friendship of that country.
The signature of the treaty was soon followed by the
arrival of an American minister, Mr. Lucius H. Foote,
who was received by the king with much distinction
and cordiality, and likewise by the queen, who also re-
ceived the minister's wife. This conduct was in marked
contrast with that of Japan even, whose sovereign was
not accessible to foreign representatives till fourteen
years after the Perry treaty, and still more with that of
China, which delayed similar intercourse for a quarter
of a century after its treaties with the West.
The reception of the American minister was promptly
followed by the dispatch of a special embassy to the
United States, consisting of two Koreans of high rank
with a suitable suite, who were transported from Korea
2600. For treaty, Treaties of U. S. 216 ; Commodore Shufeldt's Report,
May 29, 1882, MSS. Department of State ; 8 Presidents' Messages, 111 ;
Griffis's Corea, 428-435 ; Curzon's Far East, 202 ; Gundry's China, 247;
Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia, 1882, p. 175.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 327
and returned home in United States naval vessels, after
being received with great attention by the President and
the American people. The king manifested to Minister
Foote his high appreciation of the distinguished re-
ception his representatives had received ; and the first
ambassador, in making similar acknowledgment on his
return, said : " I was born in the dark ; I went out into
the light, and now I have returned into the dark
again ; I cannot as yet see my way clearly, but I hope
to soon."
The year after the negotiation of the American treaty
similar conventions were signed by the representatives
of Great Britain and Germany. There was, however,
in the British treaty a notable variance from its stipu-
lations with China, as it prohibited the importation of
opium into Korea.1
The dispatch of the special embassy to the United
States was the only representation to any Western nation
until the year 1887, when it was announced that a min-
ister plenipotentiary had been appointed to the United
States, and one other to represent Korea at all the
European courts with which the country had treaties.
This was at once followed by an interdiction on the
part of China, on the ground that Korea was a vassal
state, and that such a step could not be taken without
first obtaining the consent of the emperor. Before the
signature of the treaty with the United States in 1882,
a letter from the king of Korea to the President was
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1883, pp. 241-245, 248-250 ; 1884, pp. 125, 126 ; 8
Presidents' Messages, 174 ; Lanman's Leading Men of Japan, 386 ; Gun-
dry's China, 253, 254 ; Griffis's Corea, 446, 447.
328 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
handed to Commodore Shufeldt, in which it was stated
that " Chosen has been from ancient times a state tribu-
tary to China/' but that the United States had no con-
cern with this relation, and that he entered into the
treaty as an independent sovereign, and on terms of
equality. And upon negotiating treaties with other
Western powers a similar notification was given.
The attitude of China in this respect has been most
inconsistent. When the French government was pro-
posing to call Korea to account in 1866 for the execu-
tion of the Catholic missionaries, the Tsung-li Yamen
explicitly disavowed any responsibility for the acts of
Korea, and stated that in its relations with other nations
it was entirely independent. The same attitude was
assumed by China when the Japanese treaty was made
in 1876 and the American treaty in 1882. An attempt
had been made by treaty between China and Japan in
1885 to regulate their conflicting relations as to Korea.
While denying responsibility for the acts of that gov-
ernment towards foreign powers, China was constantly
seeking to control its intercourse with them.
The king of Korea, alarmed lest China should make
his action a pretext for war, sent a humble petition to
the emperor asking for his gracious approval of the
appointment of the two ministers to the United States
and Europe, at the same time assuring the American
representative at Seoul that he was resolved to send
them. The emperor gave his approval, but through Li
Hung Chang the king was notified that he must ap-
point only ministers resident, or of the third class, so
as to be lower in rank than the Chinese representative ;
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 329
that the Korean minister must apply through the latter
for audience ; and that he must in all important mat-
ters of his mission consult secretly with his Chinese
colleague.
Secretary Bayard instructed the American minister
in Peking to protest against the action of China, and
gave notice to both governments that " as the United
States have no privity with the interrelations of China
and Corea, we shall treat both as separate governments
customarily represented here by their respective and
independent agents." The conditions fixed by Li Hung
Chang were ignored by the Korean king and minis-
ter ; the latter was received at Washington without the
intervention of the Chinese minister; and no further
question has been raised with the United States on the
subject; but not until the war with Japan in 1894-
1895 did China absolutely withdraw her claim of suze-
rainty.1
The friendly disposition of the Korean government
towards the United States was evinced soon after the
treaty in various ways besides the exchange of diplo-
matic courtesies. The year following the reception of
the minister, Dr. H. N. Allen,2 a medical missionary of
the Presbyterian church of the United States, arrived.
He was kindly received by the king and placed in
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1888, pp. 220-248, 380, 433-444, 453 ; 1894, Appen-
dix i. 29 ; Curzon's Far East, 203.
2 Dr. Allen has continued his residence in Korea up to the present
time, and has so impressed his own government, as well as that of Korea,
with his usefulness and prudence, that he has by two presidents been
appointed the minister of the United States, and now holds that post with
much acceptability.
330 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
charge of a government hospital — a new institution for
Korea — organized by himself. Two other American
physicians joined him, and a medical school in connec-
tion with the hospital was organized. An American
female medical missionary became the physician to the
queen and ladies of the court. An American farm was
established, with the introduction of blooded stock and
instruction in the cultivation of foreign cereals and
vegetables. The government solicited the detail of
American military officers for the reorganization of the
army, an American was selected as diplomatic adviser
to the foreign office, schools under American teachers
were established, and in other ways preference was
shown for American aid to the government and people
in the transformation which had commenced.1
The American treaty of 1882 and those of Great
Britain and Germany of 1883 were similar in their
general features to those made with China in 1858, but
they contained one important omission : the guarantee
of religious freedom. This, however, did not deter
Christian missionaries from entering the country, and
the king gave Minister Foote to understand that mis-
sion hospitals and schools would be tacitly permitted,
and the work of both the Catholic and Protestant mis-
sionaries was quietly prosecuted with the knowledge of
the government.
France had made earnest efforts to secure a treaty
stipulation of religious toleration, and because of the
refusal of Korea on this point no treaty was made by
i U. S. For. Rel. 1885, pp. 347, 353 ; 1886, p. 222 ; 1887, p. 253 ;
8 Presidents' Messages, 269, 330 ; Griffis's Corea, 447, 450-153.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 331
that government till 1886, when it secured the inser-
tion of the following clause in its treaty of that date :
" Frenchmen resorting to Corea for the purpose of
there studying or teaching the written or spoken lan-
guage, sciences, laws or arts, shall in testimony of the
sentiment of good friendship which animate the high
contracting parties always receive aid and assistance."
In 1888 the American minister was notified by the
Korean government that " teaching religion and open-
ing schools of any kind are not authorized by the
treaty," and that the government would "not allow
religion taught to our people," and the minister was
asked to advise his countrymen to observe this prohibi-
tion.
Secretary Bayard held that, in the absence of know-
ledge of how the French and Korean governments con-
strued the clause above cited, Americans could not claim
a warrant for religious teaching among the natives from
the terms of the French treaty. But the French gov-
ernment and the Catholic missionaries did claim such
warrant, and despite the protest of the Korean govern-
ment they have successfully maintained this claim. As
a result American and other foreign missionaries have
continued their labors, and they have been attended
with a fair degree of success.1
From the time that Japan, after the restoration of
the Mikado in 1868, requested the Koreans to resume
their ancient tributary relation, a continuous effort was
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1884, p. 127 ; 1886, p. 222 ; 1888, pp. 446-449 ; Gun-
dry's China, 255 ; Report on Korean Mission, by Rev. A. J. Brown, Pres-
byterian Board, New York, 1902, p. 7.
/
V
332 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
made by the Japanese to secure a predominating influ-
ence in the kingdom. This was strenuously resisted by
the Chinese, and, as a result, the court of Seoul was the
scene of constant intrigues and the overthrow of min-
istries, marked by violence and barbarity. Twice was
the Japanese representative driven from Seoul by armed
force and his legation premises destroyed. As already
noticed, these conflicts were sought to be avoided by
the treaty negotiated at Tientsin in 1885 by Li Hung
Chang and Marquis Ito, but the intrigues and disorder
continued and had their culmination in the Chinese-
Japanese war of 1894.
The causes and details of that war cannot be here
narrated further than as they relate to the connection
of the United States with that momentous contest.1
In June, 1894, a considerable body of Chinese troops
were sent to Korea for the alleged purpose of putting
down a rebellion which was threatening the overthrow
of the Korean government. This action, claimed by
Japan to have been in violation of the treaty of 1885,
was followed by the dispatch of a force of Japanese
troops which occupied Seoul, and its seaport, and forti-
fied the connecting route. In the mean time the rebel-
lion had been suppressed, and the king of Korea
1 For causes of war, Williams's Hist. China, 437-444 ; Griffis's Corea,
460-462 ; The People and Politics of the Far East, by Henry Norman,
New York, 1895, pp. 359-366 ; Curzon's Far East, 196-208 ; The China-
Japan War, by "Vladimir," London, 1896, pt. i. chap. iii. and Appendix
B ; Heroic Japan, A History of the War between China and Japan, by
P. W. Eastlake and Yamada Yoshi Aki, London, 1899, pp. i.-ix. and
chap. i. ; History of War between China and Japan, by J. Inouye, Osaka,
1895, chaps, i. and ii. ; U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix i. pp. 5-23.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 333
requested the withdrawal of the troops of both nations.
The Chinese expressed a willingness to withdraw con-
currently with the Japanese. The latter declined until
Korea should adopt such reforms in government as
would prevent further disorders. The king, greatly
alarmed lest his country should become the theatre of
war, appealed to the resident representatives of foreign
powers to secure the withdrawal of the troops.
Mr. Gresham, the Secretary of State, in view of the
provision in the treaty between the United States and
Korea which pledged the United States to exert its
good offices to bring about an amicable settlement of
trouble with other powers, sent a telegraphic instruction
to the American minister at Seoul " to use every possi-
ble effort for the preservation of peaceful conditions."
In execution of this instruction the minister, acting in
concert with his diplomatic colleagues, resubmitted the
proposal of the king of Korea for a simultaneous with-
drawal of troops to the Chinese and Japanese repre-
sentatives, as an honorable adjustment of the difficulty;
but the Japanese again declined the proposal.
The king, upon this second refusal, being satisfied
that Japan meditated war, telegraphed his minister in
Washington that his independence was seriously men-
aced and directed him to appeal to the United States to
intervene in favor of peace; and he in person asked
the American minister in Seoul to allow him to take
refuge in his legation in case of necessity, which per-
mission the minister cheerfully granted. Early in July
the Chinese government asked the American minister
at Peking to telegraph the Secretary of State in its
334 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
name to take the initiative in urging the powers to
unite in a request to Japan to withdraw its troops from
Korea. Moved by these appeals and by the natural
inclination of his government to do all that was proper
to preserve peace between nations friendly to the United
States, Secretary Gresham had an interview with the
Japanese minister in Washington, in which he referred
to the appeals which had been made to his government
by Korea and China, and he expressed the hope that
Japan would deal kindly and fairly with her feeble
neighbor, whose helplessness enlisted the sympathy of
the American government, and he said that the ap-
parent determination to engage in war on Korean soil
was nowhere more regretted than in the United States.
The Japanese minister said that his government recog-
nized the independence of Korea and did not covet its
territory, but that the recent troubles had been caused
by maladministration and official corruption, and that
the Japanese troops would not be withdrawn until
needed reforms in the domestic administration of Korea
had been made.
On July 8 the British ambassador waited upon Sec-
retary Gresham, by direction of his government, to as-
certain whether the United States would unite with
Great Britain in an intervention to avert war between
China and Japan. Mr. Gresham's reply was that his
government could not intervene otherwise than as a
friendly neutral ; that it had already done so with Ja-
pan ; that the President did not feel authorized to go
further; and that the United States could not join
another power even in a friendly intervention.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 335
The efforts of the United States to prevent hostili-
ties were not successful, but the appeals of Korea and
China and the kindly manner in which the intervention
was received by Japan accentuated the high estimate
by these three Asiatic powers of the disinterested pol-
icy of the American government. When the war was
declared, a still further evidence of the confidence of
these powers was shown in the request of Japan to
intrust the archives and property of its legation and
consulates and the interests of its subjects in China to
the care of the United States minister and consuls, and
in a similar request from China for a like service by the
American minister and consuls towards the archives,
property, and subjects of China in Japan. This service
entailed a considerable amount of labor of a delicate
and sometimes embarrassing character, but it was dis-
charged cheerfully, gratuitously, and to the satisfaction
of the two interested countries.1
Out of this service there arose during the war a case
which attracted widespread attention and severe criti-
cism of the American Secretary of State in certain quar-
ters. Two Japanese youths were arrested in the French
section of the foreign concession of Shanghai on the
charge of being spies. They were by the French consul
turned over to the custody of the American consul-
general, on the ground that he had charge of the inter-
ests of Japanese subjects. The Chinese government
demanded their surrender, which the consul-general
1 For efforts at intervention, U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix i. pp.
22-39. For good offices to Chinese and Japanese, U. S. For. Rel. 1894,
pp. 95, 372.
336 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
declined to grant unless instructed so to do by his
government.
The two Japanese were students and had been resi-
dents of the French concession for three years ; when
arrested they were wearing Chinese dress, which is con-
trary to the treaty between China and Japan ; and on
their persons were found maps and memoranda respect-
ing the war. The consul-general reported that, while
papers in their possession seemed to lend a certain sup-
port to the charge, they were mere boys, and he did
not believe they were guilty. He feared that if he
turned them over to the Chinese authorities, in the ex-
cited state of the country, they would not receive a fair
trial, might be subjected to torture, and would surely
be beheaded. It was stated that during the Franco-
Chinese war, the Russian consul having charge of French
interests, exercised jurisdiction over citizens charged
with crime by the Chinese authorities.
Secretary Gresham held that the good offices of
American officials in China during the war did not war-
rant granting the Japanese an asylum against the Chi-
nese authorities, that they were not entitled to exterri-
torial privileges, and that they were subject to trial and
punishment by the Chinese tribunals. He, therefore,
directed their delivery to the Chinese officials. The
consul-general reported that after their delivery to the
Chinese they were detained two weeks, tried, declared
guilty as spies, and decapitated.
The unconditional surrender of the Japanese stu-
dents was against the better judgment of Mr. Charles
Denby, Jr., charge of the American legation, and of Mr.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 337
Jernigan, the consul-general, and was almost universally
condemned by the foreign residents of China. A Euro-
pean historian of the war declares " it was the greatest
disgrace that ever sullied the American flag." Such
sweeping condemnation is based upon the supposed in-
nocence of the accused and the rumors current at the
time that they were cruelly tortured on the trial. But
it is clear that a Chinese tribunal was the only one
which could legally pass upon their guilt ; and the con-
sul-general reported that the most authentic information
he could obtain was that they were not tortured. Sec-
retary Gresham was correct in his action, and he was
assured by the Japanese minister that, in the opinion
of his government, the consul-general at Shanghai could
not have held the accused against the demand of the
Chinese authorities, and that under like circumstances
his government would have demanded the surrender for
trial of Chinese in Japan.1
As the war progressed and the Japanese forces were
triumphant on land and sea, both China and the Euro-
pean powers began to fear the wide-reaching results for
the victors. In October, 1894, the British representa-
tive in Washington again approached the Secretary of
State with the inquiry " whether the government of the
United States would be willing to join with England,
Germany, France, and Eussia in intervening between
China and Japan." The Tsung-li Yamen, through Min-
ister Denby, made a similar advance. Mr. Gresham's
reply was that "while the President earnestly desires
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1894, pp. 103-126 ; " Vladimir's " China- Japan War,
114-116, and Appendix E.
338 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
that China and Japan shall speedily agree upon terms
of peace alike honorable to both, and not humiliating
to Korea/' he could not join the powers in an interven-
tion.
President Cleveland felt, however, that the United
States should exert its influence for peace, and he de-
cided to make an independent effort in that direction.
On November 6 the Secretary of State instructed the
American minister in Tokio to represent to the Japa-
nese government that while the deplorable war endan-
gered no policy of the United States, whose attitude
towards the belligerents was that of an impartial and
friendly neutral, desiring the welfare of both, and
cherishing the most friendly sentiments towards Japan,
the President directed him to ascertain whether a
tender of his good offices in the interest of peace
would be acceptable to that government. He was also
instructed to convey the caution, which soon after
became a humiliating reality, that "if the struggle
continues without check to Japan's military operations,
it is not improbable that other powers having interests
in that quarter may demand a settlement not favorable
to Japan's future security and well-being." The reply
of Japan to this overture was that it appreciated the
amicable sentiments which prompted the United States,
but that the universal success of the arms of Japan
seemed to relieve its government of the necessity of
resorting to the cooperation of friendly powers for
a cessation of hostilities ; that it would not press its
victories beyond the limits which would guarantee to it
the just and reasonable fruits of the war; but that
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 339
those limits would not be reached until China herself
should approach Japan directly for peace.
This declination was followed on the same date by a
request from Japan to the American minister that in
the event of China desiring to communicate with Ja-
pan upon the subject of peace, it should be done
through the legation of the United States at Peking.
The intimation was favorably and promptly acted upon
by the Chinese government, as within two days Minis-
ter Denby was authorized to transmit direct to Japan
overtures for peace. This step led to the assurance
from Japan that a peace commission appointed by
China would be received in a friendly spirit.
In December, 1894, a peace commission, consisting
of Chang Yen Huan,1 former minister to the United
States and a member of the Tsung-li Yamen, and Shao
Yu-lien, a provincial governor, was appointed, and
1 Chang's residence in the United States, where he was held in high
esteem, convinced him that China's great need was reform in government
in accordance with Western civilization, and on his return to China
he became a leading member of the liberal section in Chinese politics.
He was a trusted adviser of the emperor in his reform movement after
the Japanese war, and when the empress dowager virtually dethroned
the emperor and resumed the control of the government, Chang was con-
demned to decapitation on the charge of malfeasance in office as an
adviser of the throne. The American and British ministers inter-
vened to save his life, and his punishment was commuted to perpetual
banishment at hard labor in distant Mongolia. . When the reaction-
ary party was in the ascendancy in 1900, and the foreign legations be-
sieged, the empress dowager caused him to be beheaded. His death was
a great loss to China, as he was a liberal and enlightened statesman and
could have rendered his country valuable service in the trying period
following the " Boxer " movement. At the suggestion of the American
government, Chang has recently been posthumously restored to his honors
and the disgrace attaching to his execution removed from his family.
340 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
reached Hiroshima, Japan, the place designated for the
conference, in January, 1895. After meeting with the
Japanese commissioners it was decided by the latter
that the Chinese credentials were not in proper form,
the conferences were closed, and the Chinese commis-
sioners sent out of the country. The objection to the
credentials was purely technical, and the Chinese com-
missioners offered to have the defect corrected by tele-
graph to suit the views of the Japanese, but the offer
was rejected. The true cause for the failure of these
negotiations is most probably found in the fact that a
formidable expedition was then ready to sail for the re-
duction of the fortress of Wei-hai-wei and the capture
of the Chinese navy, and the Japanese did not choose
to settle upon the terms of peace till this important
expedition had accomplished its purpose.
After the capture of Wei-hai-wei, Japan let it be
understood through the American legation that it
would receive Li Hung Chang, who had been nomi-
nated peace commissioner, and on March 19 he landed
at Shimonoseki, Japan, with a numerous suite. He
was here met by Marquis Ito, prime minister, and
Count Mutsu, minister of foreign affairs, and after
negotiations continuing through four weeks, terms of
peace were agreed upon and a treaty signed. Its lead-
ing features were the. recognition of the complete inde-
pendence of Korea and the abandonment of all tribute
and vassal ceremonies to China, the cession of the Liao-
tung Peninsula, Formosa, and the Pescadores Islands
to Japan, the payment of a war indemnity of two
hundred million taels, the opening of four new ports
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 341
by China, and the granting of other commercial privi-
leges.
Soon after the war closed the emperor of Japan sent
an autograph letter to the President of the United
States, in which he expressed his cordial thanks for the
friendly offices extended to his subjects in China by
which they were on many occasions afforded succor
and relief, and for the services of the representatives of
the United States in Tokio and Peking whereby the
preliminaries looking to the opening of negotiations
and the definite termination of hostilities were adjusted.
These acts, his majesty said, tended greatly to mitigate
the severities and hardships of war, were deeply appre-
ciated by him, and would tend to draw still closer the
bonds of friendship which happily unite the two coun-
tries.1
In addition to the friendly service which the United
States was able to render both Japan and China during
the war in bringing the conflict to a close, the emperor
of China invited a citizen of the United States to assist
his commissioners in the peace negotiations, and the
Japanese commissioners likewise had the benefit of an
American adviser in their important labors.
It would trespass upon the bounds marked out for
1 As to peace negotiations, U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix i. pp. 29-
106 ; 1895, p. 969 ; History of the peace negotiations between China and
Japan, officially revised, Tientsin, 1895 ; Williams's China, 459 ; " Vladi-
mir's " China-Japan War, pt. iii. chaps, vii. and ix., Appendix I-K ;
Heroic Japan, chap, xxxiii. and Appendix A. For events of the war,
U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix i. 44r-104; Williams's China, 444-459 ;
"Vladimir" (cited), pts. ii. and iii. Appendix D, F-H ; Heroic Japan ;
J. Inouye's Hist. For results of the war, China, Travels in the Middle
Kingdom, by Gen. J. H. Wilson, U. S. A., New York, 1901, chap. xx.
342 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
this volume to enter at length upon a consideration of
the results of the war. It will be sufficient here to
state that it dispelled the idea that China might be
counted upon in the near future as a military power.
It brought to the attention of the world a new factor
not only in the Far East, but in the policy of the West-
ern nations. Japan had demonstrated not only that its
people were patriotic and warlike, but that its generals
possessed a knowledge of strategy, that it had a well-
equipped system of sea transportation, and an advanced
knowledge of the methods of supplying and moving
large armies, and that it contained within itself the
financial resources to maintain a great and expensive
war.1 There will be occasion in a later chapter to
chronicle the influence of this conflict in bringing
about the release of Japan from the shackles with
which she had been bound by the Western nations.
The war swept away the last vestige of the vassalage
of Korea to China. But in its stead was substituted a
new danger to its autonomy. Japan had completely
dominated the government of that country during the
hostilities, and at their termination was prepared to
reap the benefits of its success in increased commercial
privileges, and in its control of the administration of
the king. But in the execution of its plans it had to
1 The overwhelming success of the Japanese army in the Chinese war,
while unexpected to the world at large, was not a surprise to well-in-
formed military observers. General U. S. Grant, after his visit to China
and Japan in 1879, expressed the opinion that " a well-appointed body of
ten thousand Japanese troops could make their way through the length
and breadth of China, against all odds that could be brought to confront
them." Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1887, p. 725.
KOREA AND ITS NEIGHBORS 343
reckon with the designs of Russia. The government
of that great and expanding empire, as its first act of
interference, compelled Japan to surrender the best
fruit of the war in the retrocession to China of the
Liao-tung Peninsula. And since that date it has been
a constant competitor with the island empire for favor
and privileges at the court of Seoul. It may be that
this competition in Korea will bring about the next
conflict in the Pacific, and even menace the peace of
the world.
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN
When the disorders of government in Japan and
the anti-foreign disturbances which marked the first
few years after the opening of the ports to inter-
course with the outside world, as already narrated,
had in great measure passed, the rulers of the nation
addressed themselves to the task of adapting the coun-
try to the changed conditions. New and unexpected
embarrassments, however, were at once encountered.
It has been seen that the Japanese were as artless as
children in the practice of diplomacy, and accepted
submissively the treaties which Commodore Perry and
Minister Harris prepared, as well as those of the other
nations patterned after them. But the statesmen of
Japan were sagacious and highly patriotic, and they
early discovered that the nation had been led into a
thralldom, a release from which would require the
greatest wisdom, persistency, and forbearance.
Soon after the treaties went into effect it became
apparent that the government had surrendered two
of the highest attributes of sovereignty and independ-
ence — the power to enforce its authority over all the
people within its territory, and the right to frame
and alter its tariff or impost duties at its pleasure.
According to the American treaties of 1854 and 1858,
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 345
which followed the Cushing treaty of 1844 with China
on the subject of exterritoriality, Americans commit-
ting offenses in Japan were to be tried by their own
consuls, and Japanese having claims against Americans
were required to enforce them in the consular courts.
A fixed tariff of duties was also agreed to on imports
and exports. Similar provisions were contained in the
treaties with the other foreign powers.
Soon after the government of the Mikado was well
established at Tokio efforts were made to obtain an
abolition or a modification of these stipulations through
the resident foreign ministers. These proved ineffec-
tual, and inasmuch as the year 1872 was fixed in the
treaties as the date when their revision might be con-
sidered, it was determined to dispatch an embassy to
the capitals of all the interested powers for the purpose
of securing, by means of such revision, a release from
the humiliating and burdensome conditions which so
greatly embarrassed the government.
In 1871 the embassy was constituted. At its head
was placed Prince Iwakura, junior prime minister and
minister for foreign affairs. With him were associated
as vice-ambassadors, Kido, Okuba, Ito, and Yamagutsi,
men who had already attained high positions in the gov-
ernment, and whose talents made them leaders of the
New Japan. While the special object of the embassy
was to obtain a revision of the treaties, it had also in
view a study of the institutions of the Western nations,
and to this end commissioners fitted for the task were
selected from the various departments of government.
The embassy, which sailed from Yokohama the last
346 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
of December, consisted of forty-nine officials, with
interpreters and servants making in all over one hun-
dred persons. They were accompanied to the United
States by the American minister, Mr. De Long, and
his secretary; and the Japanese consul at San Fran-
cisco, an American citizen, was made a member of the
embassy and continued with it through Europe. It
arrived in San Francisco, January 15, 1872, where it
was received with the greatest attention by the public
officials and citizens. In the receptions and festivities,
Vice- Ambassador Ito, who had been abroad and was
familiar with the English language, was the chief
speaker. The spirit which animated this distinguished
body of statesmen may be seen from the following
extracts from his speeches.
At a banquet given by the citizens of San Fran-
cisco, in the course of his remarks, he said : " Japan is
anxious to press forward. The red disk in the centre
of our flag shall no longer appear like a wafer over a
sealed empire, but henceforth be in fact what it is
designed to be, the noble emblem of the rising sun,
moving onward and upward amid the enlightened na-
tions of the world." And at Sacramento : " We come
to study your strength, that, by adopting wisely your
better ways, we may hereafter be stronger ourselves.
. . . Notwithstanding the various customs, manners,
and institutions of the different nations, we are all
members of one large human family, and under control
of the same Almighty Being, and we believe it is our
common destiny to reach a nobler civilization than the
world has yet seen."
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 347
By a unanimous vote of Congress the embassy was
declared the guests of the United States and an appro-
priation for its entertainment was made. On its arrival
in Washington it was received at the executive mansion
by President Grant, in the presence of all the heads of
departments and bureaus and a numerous company of
prominent citizens. An official reception was tendered
by Congress in the hall of the House of Representa-
tives, with eloquent addresses by the Speaker, Mr.
Blaine, and Prince Iwakura. Public and private cour-
tesies were likewise shown them in the other cities
which they visited before their departure for Europe.
The ambassadors had several conferences with the
Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, on the subject of the revi-
sion of the treaties, and received from him the assurance
that the government of the United States was prepared
to take up the subject in the most liberal spirit towards
Japan. But it was found that the Japanese represent-
atives were not clothed with power to sign a treaty,
and definite action was postponed till the embassy had
conferred with the European treaty powers.
During their stay in the United States the ambassa-
dors and commissioners were busy in studying its insti-
tutions and customs, and their reports thereon constitute
a large volume in the publications of the embassy.
Prince Iwakura, who had been the main support of the
imperial cause during the struggle which resulted in the
reinstallment of the emperor, was a devoted monarchist,
and found little in the American democratic system to
pattern after ; but he was much impressed with the
strength of the central government. The reports give
348 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
special attention to the social aspects, the genial dispo-
sition of the people, their cosmopolitan character, the
influence which religion exerts in society and govern-
ment, the educational system, the respect paid to women,
the growth of the cities, and European immigration.
The visit of the embassy to the European capitals was
fruitless of results so far as its main object was con-
cerned. It found the governments unwilling to give
Japan jurisdiction over their subjects until it had re-
formed its system of jurisprudence, and they did not
choose to give up the hold which they had acquired on
the regulation of foreign trade. From the United States
alone had the embassy received any well-grounded hope
of release ; and on his return to Japan the chief ambas-
sador expressed to the American minister in a heartfelt
manner his deep sense of obligation to the government
for its reception and treatment.
Prince Iwakura was a noted character in Japanese
history. He is held in esteem by Americans because
of his high appreciation of the friendship of their coun-
try for his nation, and for the partiality shown by him
to the United States in educating three of his sons in
its institutions. Minister Bingham ranked him as one
of the ablest of his majesty's ministers, and one of the
foremost intellectually and morally of his countrymen.
On his death in 1883, the emperor issued a rescript in
which he bore this testimony : " He was the pillar of
the nation, and a model for my subjects. I ascended
the throne in my youth. The deceased was my teacher.
Heaven has deprived me of his aid. How grieved am
I ! In honor of his memory I confer on him the post-
humous title of first minister of state."
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 349
With the failure of the embassy nothing was left for
the rulers of Japan but, first, to bring their country
up to the standard of administration fixed by the Euro-
pean powers before they would relinquish the practice
of exterritoriality ; and second, to make the power of
the country so great as to command the respect of the
Western nations, and thereby secure a recognition of
the right to regulate its own system of taxation.
This course had been already marked out by the em-
peror. In a banquet which he gave his nobles just
before the departure of the embassy in 1871, he fore-
shadowed his policy for the reorganization of the gov-
ernment, and appealed to them to lead and encourage
the people " to move forward in paths of progress. . . .
With diligent and united efforts we may attain succes-
sively the highest degree of civilization within our
reach, and shall experience no serious difficulty in
maintaining power, independence, and respect among
nations." *
To attain this " highest degree of civilization," mea-
sures were instituted to reform the system of juris-
prudence and education in conformity with Western
methods, and to reorganize the departments especially
of finance, military affairs, and internal improvements.
To this end Japanese of intelligence and capacity were
sent abroad to study the systems of other countries, and
foreigners were called to Japan to instruct and take
direction in the reforms to be established.
In the accomplishment of this work it was natural,
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1871, p. 597 ; 1874, p. 646 ; 1883, p. 607 ; The Japa-
nese in America, by C. Lanman, New York, 1872, pt. i. ; Nitobe, 162.
350 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
in view of their past relations, that Japan should look
largely to the United States. It is not possible here to
give in detail the distinguished part borne by American
citizens in the reformation of the government and peo-
ple. Americans were early employed as confidential
advisers in the foreign office to aid in the direction of
diplomatic affairs, and they have been continuously
retained up to the present time. In the development
of education they have taken a leading part. At the
request of Japan officials were detailed from the United
States Treasury Department to remodel its financial sys-
tem. Its agricultural bureau, and largely its scientific
institutions, were organized under American direction.
The present excellent postal establishment was initiated
by an American, and the first postal convention with
Japan was made by the United States.1
In connection with the influence which American
citizens exerted in remoulding Japan may be noted the
visit to that country of General U. S. Grant in 1879,
on his tour of the world. He was made the guest of
the nation (the first instance of the kind under the
reorganized government), was lodged in an imperial
palace, and, besides the usual audience, he held with
the emperor (at the latter's special request) an interview
of two hours and several others with the prime minister,
in which the interests of Japan were fully and freely
discussed. At the time of his visit China and Japan
were in serious dispute over the sovereignty of the Lew
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1871, p. 595, 614 ; 1875, p. 795 ; 1876, p. 360 ; Nito-
be's Intercourse of U. S. and Japan, 117-139 ; Advance Japan, by J.
Morris, London, 1895, p. 378.
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 351
Chew Islands, — which, it will be remembered, Commo-
dore Perry in 1854 had recommended should be occu-
pied by the United States. There was great danger of
hostilities between the two oriental empires over the
question, and General Grant actively interested himself
in preserving peace. Both nations cherish his visit with
grateful remembrance.1
The task of regeneration to which the emperor of
Japan had summoned his people was pushed forward
with commendable zeal. He promptly set the example
by inviting the diplomatic corps in 1872 to a New
Year's audience, as in Western courts, with the absence
of all Asiatic ceremonials ; and a few years later the
empress stood beside him in these audiences, which
Minister Bingham noted " as an evidence of the ad-
vancing civilization of the empire." In 1875 an impe-
rial decree was issued convoking provincial assemblies,
in order, as it stated, that the emperor might " govern
in harmony with public opinion." In the same year
the British and French troops were withdrawn from
Yokohama, where they had been stationed since the
opening of that port, on the ground of protecting for-
eign residents, — the first manifestation of a disposition
on the part of the European powers to respect the sov-
ereignty of Japan. Edicts followed in quick succession
adopting the European calendar, proclaiming Sunday
as a day of rest, enacting and putting in force penal
and other codes, for the compilation of a constitution
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1879, pp. 636, 643, 685 ; 1881, p. 231 ; 2 Around the
World with General Grant, by J. R. Young, New York, 1879, pp. 410, 545,
581 ; Nitobe's Intercourse, etc. 140.
/
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
after Western models, and announcing the convocation
of a national parliament. Meanwhile a compulsory
system of education had gone into operation, and the
intelligence of the people was being quickened by the
multiplication of daily newspapers, a network of tele-
graph lines, and the opening of railroads.1
With all these and other reforms in process of con-
summation, and chafing under the humiliation of the
exercise of sovereignty on its own soil by foreign na-
tions, the government of Japan, in 1878, approached
the diplomatic representatives of powers in Tokio with
a proposition for a revision of the treaties. The dis-
cussion which followed developed the fact that no time
was fixed in these conventions for their termination,
and that if revision could not be agreed upon they
would run indefinitely.
Mr. Harris, who negotiated the American treaty of
1858, and which became the model for all others, had
inserted the exterritorial provision "against his con-
science." He states that he did it under the instruc-
tions of Secretary Marcy, who agreed with him that it
was an unjust provision, but he said that, as it appeared
in the treaties of the United States with other oriental
countries, it would be impossible to secure the ratifica-
tion of the treaty without it. Mr. Harris regarded it
only as a temporary measure.
The provisions as to the tariff had even a less claim
for their continued existence. Mr. Harris states that
the Japanese negotiators left that matter entirely to
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1872, p. 321 ; 1875, pp. 787, 794 ; 1876, pp. 377, 381 ;
1878, p. 486; 1880, p. 690 ; 1881, pp. 658, 728.
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 353
him, frankly avowing their want of knowledge respect-
ing it, and trusted to his acting justly. He framed
such a tariff as he regarded best for the interests of
Japan, placing raw products, food supplies, and building
materials on the free list or at a duty of five per cent.,
manufactures, etc., at a duty of twenty per cent., and
liquors at thirty-five per cent. He intended to give
Japan the power of revising the duty at the end of ten
years, but the construction placed by the powers upon
the language used by him made the concurrence of all
the nations necessary to any change.
Lord Elgin, who negotiated the British treaty a short
time after that of the United States, succeeded in hav-
ing placed in the five per cent, column manufactures of
wool and cotton, the articles most largely exported to
the East by British merchants. Under the most favored
nation practice all countries shared in the rate, and it
had the effect, when the tariff revision of 1866 took
place, of a reduction of all imports to a five per cent,
duty.
This tariff proved disastrous to Japan. It destroyed
the cultivation of cotton and in great measure the small
manufactories, throwing many thousands of laborers
out of employment. It deprived the government of all
revenue from this important source, the duties collected
barely paying the cost of maintaining the customs ser-
vice, and amounting to less than one thirtieth of its
income, while in the United States and many other
countries the customs receipts equal or exceed one half
of the national revenues. But the most serious objec-
tion to its maintenance was the humiliation it caused
364 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the proud Japanese. It was forced upon them in 1866,
when the country was in the throes of a revolution,
when the government of the Shogun was falling to
pieces, and the emperor was not yet able to maintain
his sovereignty.
The enforcement of the provisions of the treaties as
to exterritorial jurisdiction was equally as objection-
able to the Japanese. Not only were foreigners tried
by their own consuls for offenses committed against
Japan and its people, but the natives were required to
prosecute their suits against foreigners in the consular
courts of the defendants. It was humiliating enough
even when the consuls had a legal education and were
competent to administer justice, but often the persons
who held these positions were ignorant of law and
utterly unfitted for judicial duties. In the latter case
the consular judges were in marked contrast to the
Japanese judges, who were trained in their profession
and independent of executive control.
Even when the consuls were qualified in other re-
spects for their duties, it was not always easy to divest
themselves of partiality for their own countrymen, and
this influence sometimes led to remarkable decisions.
An example was that of an English merchant detected
in trying to smuggle a large quantity of opium (a pro-
hibited article) through the custom house, who was
brought by the Japanese authorities before the British
consular court. He was acquitted on the ground that
it was " medicinal opium," and might be freely imported
by paying the duty of five per cent, levied on medi-
cines.
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 355
The exterritorial principle was found inconvenient in
other respects than in judicial matters. When the con-
sulates were first established in the treaty ports the
Japanese government had no postal system, and in each
consulate there was a post-office for the convenience of
resident foreigners, through which foreign mail matter
passed. When the excellent postal service organized
by the Japanese government was in full operation, it
requested that the consular post-offices might be closed
and the government service substituted. The American
consulates were the only ones which promptly acted on
the suggestion, the others claiming for several years
afterwards the right to maintain a separate service in
Japanese territory.
A still more aggravating application of exterritorial-
ity was made respecting quarantine matters. During a
cholera epidemic in 1879 the government established
health regulations at the ports, which the British, Ger-
man, and some other ministers refused to recognize,
and they claimed the right to enact regulations in the
ports for their own vessels. A German ship, coming
directly from an infected port, was placed in quarantine
outside of Yokohama, but under the orders of the Ger-
man minister the vessel was taken out of quarantine by
the consul, attended by a German man-of-war, and
brought into port. General Grant, who was visiting in
Japan at the time, was emphatic in his denunciation of
the European diplomats, and said the government would
have been justified in sinking the German ship. The
British minister gave instructions to the consuls of his
nation to disregard entirely the regulations. On the
356 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
other hand, the American minister required all the ves-
sels of his nationality to observe the quarantine. Over
one hundred thousand Japanese lost their lives by the
epidemic. The American minister, in forwarding the
statistics to his government, expressed the conviction
that the death roll would not have been so great if the
Japanese government had been aided, and not resisted,
by certain of the foreign powers in its laudable efforts
to prevent the spread of the pestilence.
The minister for foreign affairs urged the application
for a revision of the treaties on the representatives of
the Western nations, under the conviction that with the
governmental and social reforms so well advanced, and
with the objectionable features of exterritoriality so
manifest, some relief would be granted from the em-
barrassments which attended the continued enforcement
of the treaties. But his arguments and appeals were
unsuccessful. The British minister took the lead in
the opposition to revision and the other European re-
presentatives concurred with him. At that period the
influence of Great Britain was all-powerful in the East.
Twice had its naval and military forces been used to
extort from China unwilling treaties ; twice had Japan
been humiliated by demonstrations of its martial power ;
and its squadrons were everywhere present to support
its ministers and consuls.
In commercial affairs as well were British interests
predominant. In Japan the import trade was largely
English, and British merchants were the greatest bene-
ficiaries of the low duties. It did not suit their inter-
ests to abandon the practice of exterritoriality or to
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 357
change the tariff. Under these conditions the negotia-
tions came to naught, as the American minister was the
only one of the foreign representatives willing to accept
the proposals of the Japanese government.
Up to this time it had been the policy and the prac-
tice of the foreign representatives in Tokio to cooperate
in all measures of general interest, but Mr. Bingham,
the American minister, was so strongly impressed with
the equity and justice of the Japanese claim that he
dissented from his European colleagues, and decided to
take an independent course. Upon his recommenda-
tion the United States, in 1878, entered into a treaty
with Japan by which the existing tariff was to be an-
nulled and the exclusive right of Japan to establish
imports was recognized. This treaty, however, had no
other effect than to place the United States on the side
of Japan in its efforts to break the bands which held it
in bondage, as its provisions were not to go into effect
until similar treaties were made with the other powers.1
Not discouraged by this failure of 1878, new pro-
posals were submitted in 1882, but without avail, the
American minister being the only one ready to concede
the Japanese claim. Again in 1886 a more formal
effort was made and a diplomatic conference or con-
gress was assembled, in which the Japanese minister
for foreign affairs, Count Inouye, and the representa-
tives of all the treaty powers participated. Some pro-
gress was made towards an agreement on tariff revision,
i U. S. For. Rel. 1879, pp. 647, 670 ; 1880, pp. 652, 657, 679 ; U. S.
Treaties, 621 ; N. A Rev. Dec. 1878, p. 406 ; Atlantic Monthly, May,
1881, p. 610; lb. Dec. 1887, p. 721 ; Nitobe's Intercourse, etc. 104.
358 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
but there was an irreconcilable divergence of views on
the jurisdictional question. After long discussions, the
conferences extending into the year 1887, the Japanese
were finally brought to agree that to the native judges
there should be added a body of European and Ameri-
can experts, who should constitute a majority in every
court before which aliens might be required to appear.
But when this important concession was offered, the
European representatives insisted that the foreign
judges should be nominated by the diplomatic body,
and that it should control the laws, rules of procedure,
and the details of the administration of justice.
When the concession tendered by Count Inouye and
the demands of the diplomatic representatives became
known to the Japanese public, a storm of indignation
spread through the land, and the opposition became
so threatening that the conference was dissolved, and
Count Inouye was forced to resign his portfolio. Again
the American minister alone was on the side of Japan.
To signalize the attitude of his government, an extradi-
tion convention was negotiated by Minister Hubbard,
ratified, and proclaimed in 1886, while the conference
was in progress. In submitting the treaty to the
Senate, President Cleveland stated that it had been
made not only because it was necessary for the proper
execution of the criminal laws, "but also because of
the support which its conclusion would give to Japan
in her efforts towards judicial autonomy and complete
sovereignty."
This treaty originated in questions which were raised
through an American, charged with a crime committed
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 359
in the United States, taking refuge in Japan. His
arrest could not be demanded in the absence of an
extradition treaty, but the Japanese government as an
act of comity caused his delivery for trial in the United
States, and in friendly reciprocity the convention was
signed. The British government, on the other hand,
claimed that, under the principle of exterritoriality, it
had the right without such a convention to follow a
British fugitive from justice into any part of Japanese
territory, arrest, and carry him back to England for
trial. Such a claim was only equaled by the disregard
of the government quarantine regulations in the treaty
ports.
Count Inouye's conferences having been broken up
because of the indignation of the Japanese people,
Count Okuma, his successor in the foreign office,
sought to take advantage of a difference of views exist-
ing among the European representatives, and to revise
the treaties with each nation separately. He reached a
basis of agreement with Germany, France, and Russia,
but Great Britain still held out, and, while laboring to
secure an adjustment with that power, an attempt on
his life was made by a fanatic, who had been wrought
up by an excessive patriotic fervor to believe the minis-
ter was about to betray his country. Being severely
wounded, Okuma likewise abandoned his efforts and
gave up his office. The attitude of the European
powers had created a conservative reaction, and the
public sentiment was such at the time that an unwill-
ingness was manifested to allow the country to be
thrown open to foreigners, even in exchange for the
360 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
abolition of the judicial and tariff provisions of the
treaty. Disheartened in its labors, the government
decided to abandon further attempts at treaty revision,
in the hope that time would work out the deliverance
of the nation.1
But it did not slacken the movement for reform, and
on the two thousand five hundred and forty-ninth anni-
versary of the foundation of the dynasty there occurred
the most momentous event in Japanese history and the
crowning work in the regeneration of the country —
the promulgation by the emperor of the imperial con-
stitution, accompanied by his solemn oath to observe
and enforce it, and also by a decree for the election of
an imperial diet or parliament. The promulgation was
made by the emperor in the throne-room of the palace
with stately ceremonies, and was witnessed by the dip-
lomatic representatives who had so recently refused to
recognize the advance which the empire had made in
governmental and social reorganization, and who were
still unwilling to admit it into the family of nations.2
The patience and forbearance of Japanese statesman-
ship, however, at last had its reward in a notable
triumph over Western diplomacy. The war with China
had thrown a fresh light on oriental affairs. A new
people had appeared above the horizon of international
politics, not only able to defend their independence,
1 The United States in the Far East, by R. B. Hubbard, Richmond,
1900, chap. xvi. ; Norman's Far East, 385 ; Chamberlain's Things Japa-
nese, 443 Atlantic Monthly, 1887, pp. 728-733 ; Nitobe's Intercourse,
etc. 105 ; U. S. For. Rel. 1886, p. 564 ; 8 Presidents' Messages, 402, 501.
2 U. S. For. Rel. 1889, p. 536 ; Murray's Story of Japan, 394 ; Minister
Kurimo in N. A. Rev. May, 1895, p. 624.
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 361
but to make their power felt in the counsels and con-
tests of the nations. Russia, Germany, and France had
combined to rescue China from Japanese control, and
Great Britain, separated from the great continental
powers, found in Japan a convenient and useful ally.
The British government was not slow to realize the
situation. Even before the war had fairly begun and
when the triple alliance in Asiatic affairs was still in-
choate, it had taken the step which was essential to an
alliance with the Japanese empire.
The highest ambition of that empire was to secure
release from the bondage in which it was held by the
treaties with the Western powers. No nation could be
its friend and ally which was not ready to yield that
point. The British government signified its readiness
to take up the revision, and, from being the recalcitrant
power, it became the one most prompt to accept the
conditions proposed by Japan. The latter, also, had
changed its position. It no longer thought of foreign
judges in its courts, as it proposed in 1886. When it
declared war against China and marshaled its army
and navy for the contest, it was not alone to settle its
differences with its neighbor, but to achieve its inde-
pendence and sovereignty among the nations of the
earth. Great Britain recognized that Japan had at last
reached the goal of its twenty-two years' diplomatic
struggle, and in 1894 entered into a treaty whereby
the practice of exterritoriality was to be completely
abolished, the whole country was to be opened to for-
eign residents, and the statutory tariff of Japan was
to control the imposts, from and after 1899; and
362 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
meanwhile the foreign residents at the treaty ports
were to prepare for the change.
The United States had negotiated such a treaty soon
after the adjournment of the revision conference of
1886-87, and stood ready to put it in force as soon
as Great Britain, its commercial competitor, could be
brought to a similar agreement. When the British
treaty was assured, the negotiations were taken up at
Washington, a treaty was signed November 22, 1894,
and promptly ratified and proclaimed. All the other
treaty powers followed with little delay, and the day
was thus fixed for the release of Japan from its thrall-
dom.
The revision of the treaties was not popular with the
foreign residents of the empire. They looked forward
with foreboding to the application to their persons
and business of the Japanese laws. The American and
British residents especially were filled with anxiety,
and petitioned their governments to secure some ex-
emption from the laws respecting land tenures, news-
papers, and bail or imprisonment in view of the con-
ditions of the Japanese jails. But their governments
decided that it was but fair to allow the Japanese laws
to go into operation, and, if hardships and injustice
were experienced, to trust to the imperial government
to remedy the defects through legislation or amend-
ment of the treaties.
As the day of jubilee approached the emperor is-
sued a notable rescript or proclamation, announcing
the coming event, in which he said, "it is a source
of heartfelt gratification to us that, in the sequel
THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN 363
of exhaustive planning and repeated negotiations, an
agreement has been come to with the powers, and the
revision of the treaties, our long-cherished aim, is
to-day on the eve of becoming an accomplished fact ;
a result which, while it adds materially to the responsi-
bilities of our empire, will greatly strengthen the basis
of our friendship with foreign countries." And he
appealed in affectionate terms to his subjects, officials,
and people, to so conduct themselves that every source
of dissatisfaction might be avoided, and that subjects
and strangers might enjoy equal privileges and dwell
together in peace.
The rescript was followed by notifications from the
cabinet and ministers of all the departments to their
subordinates, warning them to so enforce the laws
and so conduct themselves that foreigners might " be
enabled to reside in the country confidently and con-
tentedly." The appeal of the emperor in that great
crisis of his country was most affecting, and had a pro-
found influence on the masses of the people, who had
been trained to believe in his divine origin and that he
was guided in his conduct by his ancestors of glorious
memory and achievements.1
It is gratifying to note that the foreboding of the
foreign residents has not been realized, and that since
1899 they have lived in as full an enjoyment of peace
and protection of the laws of the empire as if under
the governments of Christendom. The manner in which
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1890, p. 450 ; 1899, p. 469 ; U. S. Treaties in force,
352 ; Norman's Far East, 387 ; Ransome's Japan in Transition, chaps,
xi. and xvi. ; Morris's Advance Japan, p. xiv.
364 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the officials and people have conducted themselves has
secured the applause of the world. What has been
accomplished is without parallel in history. No other
Asiatic country has broken away from the customs of
past ages and aligned itself with the institutions and
methods of modern civilization ; and no other nation of
the world has in so short a time undergone so great a
transformation and wrought such a development of its
resources.
It is especially gratifying to Americans to note the
triumphs of Japanese wisdom, persistency, and patriot-
ism, — to feel that they were instrumental in awakening
that people to the high ideal which they fixed for
themselves, and that they have stood by them as their
adviser and friend in their long struggle for regenera-
tion and independence.
The empire has attained its long-sought-for place
among the nations. It begins to realize, as announced
by the emperor, that it has materially enlarged its re-
sponsibilities. It assumes them, proud of its antiquity
and confident of a long future before it, inspired by the
sentiment so recently sung by its soldiers on the battle-
fields of Korea and China, —
May our Lord's dominion last
Till a thousand years have passed,
Twice four thousand times o'ertold !
Firm as changeless rock, earth-rooted,
Moss of ages uncorrupted
Grows upon it, green and old !
V
XI
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII
The decade following 1850 was significant in events
which unmistakably indicated the ultimate annexation
of Hawaii to the United States. The sudden develop-
ment of California and the growth of American influ-
ence on the Pacific coast greatly revived the drooping
commerce of the islands occasioned by the decline in
whaling. The demand from that coast created new
industries, especially in agriculture. The cultivation of
sugar was begun, and was found to be well adapted to
the climate and soil. Potatoes and other vegetables
were largely exported, and the high price of flour at
San Francisco gave a temporary impetus to the growing
of wheat. The traffic in these commodities added ma-
terially to the wealth of the islanders.
Another event tended to direct attention to the politi-
cal future of Hawaii. It was the epoch when filibuster-
ing was rampant in the United States, and demanded
an aggressive policy on the part of the administration
then in power. While Cuba was the objective point of
the movement on the Atlantic coast, the notorious
Walker was active in organizing in San Francisco law-
less movements against Lower California and Nicaragua.
His acts gave currency to reports that an expedition
was being formed to occupy forcibly Hawaii and bring
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
about its annexation to the United States. Kame-
hameha III. (the reigning sovereign) and his council
were greatly alarmed, and their appeals led to the send-
ing of an American man-of-war to Honolulu to insure
the islands from attack. The rumors proved to have
no substantial foundation, but they indicated the grow-
ing expectation of eventual incorporation of the islands
with the Union.
The census made it manifest that the native popu-
lation was rapidly decreasing, and the race seemed
destined to ultimate extinction. Although surrounded
by good advisers and Christian influence, the reigning
family wa£ developing an incapacity to govern, and this
feature became more apparent in later years. The par-
amount interest of the United States caused it to regard
the situation with concern.1
Mr. Marcy, the Secretary of State, although of con-
servative tendencies, entertained broad-minded views of
the duty and destiny of his country, and he regarded the
time propitious for a permanent settlement of the status
of these outlying islands adjacent to the American
domain. The king had already, during the trouble
with France, indicated his desire in that crisis to trans-
fer the sovereignty to the United States, and Mr. Marcy
instructed the American minister to approach him with
a proposition for annexation. The king was found
favorable to the project, and the draft of a treaty was
agreed upon ; but two of its provisions did not meet
1 The official census shows the following decrease in the native popula-
tion : Native Hawaiians in 1832, 130,313 ; 1850, 84,165 ; 1853, 73,137 ;
1860, 69,800 ; 1872, 56,869 ; 1884, 40,014 ; 1890, 34,436 ; and 1900,
29,799.
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII 367
with Mr. Marcy's approval, to wit, the annuitiesjto be }
paid the royal family and the stipulation that the
islands were to constitute a State of the Union.
While the negotiations were in progress for a modifi-
cation of the treaty draft on these matters, Kamehameha
III. died, and, his successor being unfavorable to the
measure, the negotiations came to an end. But the lat-
ter recognized the commercial dependence of the islands!
upon the United States, and a treaty of reciprocity in
trade was signed in 1855, though it failed of approval
by the American Senate.
During the American Civil War the government of
the United States was too much absorbed with that great
struggle to give attention to its relations with Hawaii.
Soon after the restoration of peace, however, Secretary
Seward authorized the American minister to open nego-
tiations for a reciprocity treaty, but he stated that there
was a strong annexation feeling in the country, and if
he found that " the policy of annexation should conflict
with the policy of reciprocity, annexation is in every
case to be preferred." The treaty of reciprocity was
signed in 1867, and President Johnson, in urging its
ratification upon the Senate, said the treaty would prove j
a measure of protection against foreign aggression
" until the people of the islands shall, of themselves, at
no distant day, voluntarily apply for admission into the
Union." Two influences were, however, sufficiently
strong to prevent the ratification of the treaty, — the
sugar growers of the Southern States, and the friends
of annexation, who felt that reciprocity would postpone I
that project.
368 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
These repeated efforts at annexation and commercial
reciprocity awakened the jealousy of the British and
other foreign merchants resident in the islands, and
their views were echoed by their diplomatic representa-
tives ; but men of foresight in England did not seem
so blinded to coming events. The Hawaiian commis-
sioners who visited Europe in 1850 (of which notice
has already been taken), in their interviews with the
British premier, were advised to look forward to becom-
ing an integral part of the United States. " Such,"
I said Lord Palmerston, " was the destiny of the Hawaiian
Islands, arising from their proximity to the State of
California and Oregon and natural dependence on those
mJ* 6 tAA markets for exports and imports, together with the prob-
able extinction of the Hawaiian aboriginal population,
1a) : and its substitution by immigration from the United
States." The London " Post," in discussing the annex-
ation project of 1853-54, while speaking in not very
complimentary terms of " American rapacity," stated
that the predominance of American influence made the
acquisition of the islands most natural, and that it
should be regarded as a circumstance auspicious to the
commerce of the world.1
A fear existed in the islands that the American
market, their chief dependence for prosperity, might be
closed to them by adverse tariffs, and the efforts for a
reciprocity treaty continued through the succeeding ten
years, during which time one king followed another in
1 A. H. Allen's report, S. Ex. Doc. No. 45, 52d Cong. 2d Sess. pp. 14-
18; Alexander's Hist. Hawaii, 273-292 ; Hopkins's Hawaii, 325, 397;
London Post, Oct. 24, 1854.
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII
quick succession, the lives of some of them being short-
ened by intemperance and immorality. The line of
the Kamehamehas became extinct, and one ruler after
another dying without a designated successor, disorder
and riots ensued, growing out of the election of a head
to the enfeebled government, and the presence on shore
of American marines was time and again invoked to
preserve the public peace.
During the administration of President Grant, Sec-
retary Fish authorized new negotiations for reciprocity,
so ardently desired by the Hawaiians. In his instruc-
tions to the American minister he referred to the con-
dition of the government and its evident tendency to
decay and dissolution, to the danger of its falling under
foreign control, and stated that " we desire no ad- \
ditional similar outposts [as Bermuda] in the hands of
those who may at some future time use them to our
disadvantage." While authorized to entertain proposi-
tions for reciprocity, the minister was not to discourage
any feeling which might exist in favor of annexation.
The negotiations were opened at Honolulu, but King
Kalakaua, impressed with the importance of the matter,
sent two commissioners to Washington, and their action
resulted for the third time in a treaty of commercial
reciprocity, those of 1855 and 1867 having failed, as
noted, in the United States Senate.
This treaty provided for the free reciprocal introduc-
tion of practically all the products of Hawaii into the
United States, and of those of the United States into-
Hawaii. The opposition of the advocates of annexa-
tion was overcome by the insertion of a stipulation that
370
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
none of the territory of Hawaii should be leased or dis-
posed of to any other power, and that none of the priv-
ileges granted by the treaty should be conferred upon
any other nation. With this clause added, the treaty
was regarded as insuring the ultimate acquisition of
the islands by the United States, and it was ratified by
Uhe Senate and went into operation in 1876.
This treaty is justly regarded as one of the most im-
portant events in Hawaiian history. Its final result
was to bring about annexation. Its immediate effect
was to create a great revival in commerce and the native
industries. Though sugar cultivation had commenced
twenty years before when the demand for it arose in
California, it had not been possible to compete in the
United States markets with the slave-grown sugar of
other countries. The free introduction of Hawaiian
sugar under the treaty gave a strong impetus to its
cultivation, as also to that of rice. The total value of
exports in a few years was increased more than sixfold,
a corresponding increase resulted in the revenues of the
government, and the wealth of the country was greatly
multiplied.
As a consequence, public and private enterprises were
stimulated, and an unexampled era of prosperity fol-
lowed. Government buildings and other improvements
of public utility were constructed ; railroads and tele-
graph lines put in operation ; expensive systems of irri-
gation were installed ; many artesian wells were sunk
for sugar cultivation ; and new schools, hospitals, and
\ churches were erected — all as the direct result of the
I reciprocity treaty.
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII
371
It had still another effect which brought about a
radical change in the population of the islands. As \
sugar cultivation became very profitable, it was largely
extended, and this occasioned an unusual demand for
labor. It could not be supplied from the native popu-
lation, as the aboriginal race was unwilling to undergo
the fatigues and hardships of the plantations. Efforts
were made to obtain laborers from the other Polynesian
islands, but they proved unsatisfactory. Over ten thou-
sand Portuguese were brought from the Azores, but the
supply from that source was limited. As the area
brought under cultivation was enlarged, the planters;
turned to the overflowing populations of China andj
Japan, and more than twenty thousand from each of I
those countries were brought into the islands. By these
means the native inhabitants, decreasing steadily in
numbers, became a minority, idle, thriftless, and com-
paratively unimportant. The property and wealth had,!
in great measure, passed into the hands of people off
alien races.1
The duration of the reciprocity treaty was fixed at
seven years, but after some negotiation it was rejxewed
in 1884 with an important additional clause. This was
the granting to the United States of the exclusive use
of Pearl Harbor for a naval station, with the right to
improve and fortify it. In 1873 General Schofield had
been sent by President Grant to the islands to make a
survey with a view to the location of such a station,
and he made a report in favor of Pearl Harbor, and
later appeared before a Congressional committee and
i
1 Allen's Report (cited), 19-22 ; Alexander's Hist. Hawaii, 303-311.
l^
372 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
urged the importance of some measure looking to the
control of the islands.
The action of the Hawaiian government in ceding
Pearl Harbor to the United States led to a protest from
the British minister in Honolulu, who said that such
cession " would infallibly lead to the loss of the inde-
pendence of the islands," but he based his objection to
it on the ground that it was in violation of an article
of the British treaty with that country which gave to
British vessels of war liberty of entry to all harbors to
which ships of other nationalities were admitted. The
Hawaiian government, however, did not admit the
British contention.
During the first administration of President Cleve-
land action was taken on several subjects indicating the
paramount influence or authority of the United States
in Hawaii. One of his first acts was to proclaim the
renewal of the reciprocity treaty, with the Pearl Harbor
clause. In 1886 an attempt to make a loan in London
of $2,000,000 upon the hypothecation of the customs
revenues of Hawaii was defeated, Secretary Bayard
taking the position that it was in conflict with the
clause of the reciprocity treaty which forbade the ces-
sion of territory to any other country or the creation
of a Hen upon any port. In 1887 the British minister
approached the government at Washington with a
request that the United States join Great Britain and
France in the compact of 1843, whereby they guaran-
teed the neutrality and independence of Hawaii. Mr.
Bayard declined on the ground that by the reciprocity
treaty Hawaii was enjoying material prosperity, had
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII 373
entered into special obligations as to the cession of a f
port and alienation of territory, and occupied towards
the United States a relation different from that towards
all other countries. King Kalakaua had made an alii- j
ance with the Samoan king, and in 1887 the approval
of the government of the United States was asked to I
the compact. Mr. Bayard pointed out the inexpediency )
of it, and withheld approval.
The prosperity which attended the reciprocity arrange-
ment replenished the royal treasury, and Kalakaua
sought to make the most out of his good fortune. He
first visited the United States, where he was received
in a manner becoming a royal neighbor. Afterwards
he made a tour of the world and was entertained by
the governments and crowned heads of Asia and of
Europe. He returned home with ambitious ideas for
himself and his kingdom. In 1883 he published a
protest against the seizure by Great Britain and France
of various groups in Polynesia, while the alliance with
Samoa was another of his schemes for giving impor-
tance to his reign.
An adventurer named Gibson had ingratiated him-
self into the favor of Kalakaua, and had been made
prime minister, and the Samoan alliance was attempted
under his auspices. Gibson claimed to be the heir of a
great English family ; he had been imprisoned in Java,
whence he escaped to Salt Lake City, and was sent
by Brigham Young as a Mormon apostle to Hawaii ;
becoming involved in trouble with the " Saints," he j
became a Protestant, but in a little while transferred ]
his spiritual allegiance to the Pope, and was soon an
374 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
/ influential member of the native Roman Church. By
j his artful methods he gained the confidence of the king
\ and was made the head of his government. He kept
the amiable, but too convivial, monarch well supplied
with money, and in other respects gratified his desires.
He readily fell in with his ambitious views and dis-
patched the embassy to the Samoan king.
The solitary ship of the Hawaiian navy, the little
Kaimiloa, was fitted out for the voyage, and carried to
Samoa a half-caste native ambassador, with a secretary
and the usual staff of a diplomatic mission. On arrival,
after a voyage during which the crew mutinied on ac-
count of short rations, the embassy established itself in
an extravagant style of living. The treaty of alliance
was readily made, and was celebrated by a banquet
given by the Hawaiians. As morning dawned the floor
of the banquet hall was found covered with Samoan
chiefs, who had to be carried to their homes. The com-
ment of the Samoan king to one of the embassy was :
" If you have come to teach my people to drink, I wish
you had stayed away." The Kaimiloa was hypothe-
cated to raise funds to get the embassy away from the
islands, its departure being hastened by the jealousy of
the Germans. On its return to Honolulu it found Gib-
son dismissed from office and in jail. His expulsion
from the country soon followed. By such exploits and
through such advisers Kalakaua's administration was
much discredited by the better class of residents and in
the United States.
/ During the sessions of the International American
^Conference at Washington in 1890, Congress adopted
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII 375
a resolution to extend an invitation to the government
of Hawaii to participate in the conference. By this '
act the islands were recognized as a part of the Ameri-
can body of states, and the Monroe doctrine was ap-
plied to their political status.1 This step, however, did
not alter the intimate relation which they held to the
Orient. From their earliest contact with the United
States these islands had been a base of operations for \
the trade of China, and the growing power of Japan f
had given to them added importance in the Pacific.
^Kalakaua died in 1891 while visiting California for
his health, and was succeeded by Princess Liliuokalani,
who had previously been proclaimed heir to the throne.
Although the petty kingdom was the merest mimicry
of a monarchy, the substantial residents were disposed
to tolerate the king in his whims and extravagancies of
life and policy because of his kindly disposition and
of his good intentions for his country. But his death i
precipitated the end of the monarchy, which events had
already indicated as inevitable. The new ruler from \
the beginning manifested a headstrong disposition, an j
intention to control the government by her own will,
and to surround herself with a body of advisers and in- |
timates of bad character and of ill omen for the coun-
try. Her accession to power was followed by much
dissatisfaction, and revolutionary schemes began to take ,
shape. The bribery and corruption which prevailed [
and the orgies which defiled the palace during the
1 Allen's Report, 23-26 ; Alexander's Hist. Hawaii, 304 ; A Foot-Note
to History (Samoa), by Robert Louis Stevenson, New York, 1892, p. 56 ;
U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix ii. p. 645.
376 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
reign of Kalakaua were continued under the queen,
and the government went from bad to worse, the ses-
sions of the national legislature being marked by open
bribery, apparently with the approval of the head of the
state.
A crisis came in January, 1893. The queen was
determined to overthrow the existing constitution and
to proclaim one whereby more autocratic power would
be possessed by her. As the first step to this end she
sought to rid herself of her constitutional ministry.
The legislature was prorogued, and the nobles and the
diplomatic corps were summoned to the palace, the pur-
pose being understood to be to witness the promulga-
tion of the new constitution. This aroused the fears
and hostility of the leading inhabitants of Honolulu,
who assembled in mass meeting, denounced the contem-
plated measure, appointed a committee of public safety,
which proceeded at once to organize their adherents
into a military force. The queen, being alarmed at the
magnitude and earnestness of the opposition, dismissed
the nobles and diplomats, and from the balcony of the
palace announced to her native adherents, who were
clamoring for the new constitution, that she had been
forced to postpone its promulgation, and later she is-
sued a proclamation that no change would take place
except by constitutional methods.
The committee of public safety, satisfied that she
would embrace the first opportunity to carry out her cher-
ished plan, began preparations, on January 16, for deci-
sive action to put an end to the corrupt government.
It being apparent that a revolution was impending,
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII 377
the American minister requested the United States *
naval commander to land marines to protect American
interests, and at five o'clock on the afternoon of the
16th a detachment of troops was landed and placed
about the legation and consulate. On the day follow- I
ing, January 17, 1893, the revolutionists assembled
under arms, and, marching to the government build-
ing, proclaimed the overthrow of the monarchy, and
the committee of public safety took possession of the
government without loss of life. The queen alleged j
that her adherents had been overawed by the landing
of the United States troops, and, while peacefully sub-|
mitting to the change, she appealed to the President of \
the United States to restore her to power.
A provisional government was at once established, l
with Judge S. B. Dole as president, Judge Dole was (
born in Honolulu, of American parentage, and resigned \
from the Supreme Court to accept the position. The I
new government was organized without opposition \
throughout the islands and recognized as the de facto I
government by the representatives of all the foreign \
powers resident at the capital. One of its first acts^
was to dispatch a commission of its citizens to Washing-
ton to negotiate a treaty of annexation to the American
Union. The commissioners arrived in Washington on
February 3, and, being introduced by the resident
Hawaiian minister to the Secretary of State, laid before
him their credentials and asked to enter upon negotia-
tions. President Harrison, having satisfied himself that
they represented the de facto and established govern-
ment, and that ultimate annexation had been for many
378 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
years the policy of the United States, authorized nego-
tiations, which resulted in the signing of a treaty on
February 14 providing for the incorporation of the
Hawaiian Islands into the United States as a territory.1
President Harrison's administration came to a close
on March 3, and in the brief time before adjournment
no action was taken on the treaty by the Senate. One
of the first acts of Mr. Cleveland after his inauguration
for a second term was to withdraw the treaty of annex-
ation from the Senate. He was impressed by the decla-
ration of the queen that she had been dethroned
through the presence of the United States troops and
against the will of a large majority of her subjects, and
he sent a commissioner, Hon. J. H. Blount, to Hawaii
to investigate and report upon the causes of the revolu-
\ tion and the sentiments of the people towards the pro-
visional government. After a lengthy investigation
Mr. Blount reported that the party which supported
the new government constituted the intelligence and
owned most of the property on the islands, that the
greater part of the natives were in favor of the ex-
queen, and that the revolution succeeded through the
I support of the United States minister and troops.
Upon the return of Mr. Blount, President Cleveland
appointed a minister to Hawaii, accredited to the pro-
; visional government, but with instructions to inform
the ex-queen that upon the facts reported by Mr.
1 For events of Kalakaua's reign, U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix ii. p.
645. For sketch of revolution, ib. 777 ; Minister Stevens's account, ib.
207. For President Harrison's message and treaty of annexation of
1893, ib. 197.
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII 379
Blount he had decided that she ought to be restored to
power, upon condition that she would grant full am-
nesty to all persons. The minister had an interview
with the ex-queen and informed her of the President's
decision. She replied that she would behead the leaders
of the revolution and confiscate their property. This
answer was communicated to the President and a reply
was received by the minister that he would cease all
efforts to restore her sovereignty unless she agreed to
amnesty. A month after the first interview a second
was held in which the ex-queen stated that the leaders
of the revolution should be banished and their property
confiscated. Two days afterwards, December 18, 1893,
she repeated her declaration, but after the third inter-
view she gave her consent in writing to the wishes of
the President.
On the next day the minister asked for an interview
with President Dole and his ministers, which was at
once granted. He then communicated to them the
views of President Cleveland and the written assurance
of the ex-queen, and asked them to relinquish promptly
to her the government. On the 23d President Dole
replied by note, denying the right of the President of
the United States to interfere in the domestic affairs
of the Hawaiian government, and " respectfully and un-
hesitatingly " declined "to surrender its authority to
the ex-queen."
On the assembling of the Congress of the United
States in December, 1893, President Cleveland sent a
special message to that body, in which he gave the
reasons for the course he had pursued, inclosed the
!
380 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
correspondence and documents relating to the question,
and submitted the subject "to the broader authority
and discretion of Congress.' ' Upon receiving President
Dole's declination to surrender the government, the
correspondence relating to it and the report of the ex-
queen's conduct were transmitted to Congress without
comment. The whole subject having been relegated to
Congress, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate made an extended investigation, examined a
large number of witnesses, and submitted a majority
report through Senator Morgan, which vindicated the
diplomatic and naval officers of the United States from
undue influence, declared that the recognition of the
\ provisional government was " lawful and authorita-
tive," and found that the queen's proposed action to
overturn the constitution was itself revolutionary. The
minority of the committee dissented from these find-
ings. No further action on the subject was taken by
Hhatbody.1
The provisional government, having accepted the
action of President Cleveland as a rejection by the
executive of the treaty of annexation, proceeded to
effect a permanent organization. An election was or-
dered for delegates to a constitutional convention, the
electors being all adult male inhabitants of native,
American, or European descent who took the oath to
support the government. The convention assembled
1 For President Cleveland's messages, 9 Presidents' Messages, 393 ;
U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix ii. pp. 267, 445, 1193, 1241, 1285. Mr.
Blount's Report, ib. pp. 467-1150. On restoration of the queen, ib. pp.
1189-1292. Senate Report of 1894, S. Report No. 227, 53d Cong. 2d
Sess.
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII 381
and adopted a republican form of government, the con-
stitution being proclaimed and the republic organized
on July 4, 1894.1
The new government received the prompt recogni-"]
tion of all the powers having treaty relations with
Hawaii, including the United States, and its authority
was peacefully acquiesced in by the inhabitants through-
out the entire group. The bloodthirsty conduct of
the ex-queen satisfied the responsible and intelligent
residents that she was unworthy to be reinstated, and
it likewise disgusted those persons in the United States
who had been inclined to sympathize with her as an
unjustly dethroned ruler. The republican authorities
continued to administer the government, with a single
feeble attempt at revolution in January, 1895, which :j
was promptly suppressed, through a period of four!
years in which the country enjoyed unexampled peace \
and prosperity. Never before in its history had there
been such honesty in administration, such economy in
expenditures, such uniform justice in the enforcement
of the laws and respect for the officials, such advance (
in education, and such encouragement of commerce
and protection to life and property.
Soon after a change in the government at Washing-
ton had occurred, by the inauguration of President
McKinley, the subject of annexation was revived, and
on June 16, 1897, a new treaty was signed, similar to
the one made in 1893, except that the provision for
annuities to the ex-queen and late heir apparent were
omitted, and it was sent to the Senate for its considera-
tion and action.
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix ii. 1311-1319, 1350.
382 AMEKICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
When this fact became public the Japanese govern-
ment, through its minister in Washington, sent to the
Secretary of State a protest against the annexation, on
the ground, first, that the maintenance of the inde-
pendence of Hawaii was essential to the good under-
standing of the powers having interests in the Pacific 5
t Jj£ second, that annexation would tend to endanger the
rights of Japanese subjects resident in Hawaii secured
by treaty ; and, third, that it might postpone the settle-
ment of Japanese claims against Hawaii. To the state-
ment of the Secretary of State that Japan had made no
protest against the treaty of 1893, the answer was that
since that date the enlargement of the interests of
Japan and its expanding activities in the Pacific had
created a very different situation. The Japanese popu-
lation in Hawaii had so increased as to exceed the
native inhabitants ; and since the war with China the
Japanese in the islands had become quite self-assertive,
and their government so positive in the enforcement of
the claims of its subjects as to alarm seriously the
Hawaiian republic.1 Assurances, however, being given
that Japanese treaty rights and pending claims should
1 The population of the Hawaiian Islands, as shown by the official
census of the United States for 1900, was as follows : —
PEB CENT.
Hawaiians 29,799 19.3
Part Hawaiians 7,857 5.1
Caucasians 28,819 18.7
Chinese 25,767 16.7
Japanese 61,111 39.7
All others 648 0.5
154,001
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII
383
not be prejudiced by annexation, the protest of the
imperial government was not further pressed, and the
friendly relations were not disturbed.
The treaty was still pending in the Senate when the \
United States declared war against Spain in April,
1898, and afterAdmiral Dewey's victory in Manila Bay
it was manifest that the occupation of the Hawaiian
Islands had become a military necessity. There being
some question as to the possibility of securing the
requisite two thirds vote in the Senate for the approval
of the treaty of annexation, it was determined to follow
the precedent in the annexation of Texas, and to bring
about the result by means of a joint resolution of the
two houses. The terms of the treaty were thereupon
embodied in such a resolution, and, after a brief dis-
cussion in each chamber, it was passed by more than a
two thirds vote in both houses, and became a law
July 7, 1898.1
The necessary formalities were promptly complied
with, and Hawaii was incorporated into the American
Union. It was, in accordance with the treaty and
joint resolution, constituted a territory, and President
Dole was appointed the first governor. In 1900 Con-
gress passed an act for the organization of the Ter-
ritory of Hawaii, in which the elective franchise was
conferred upon all Hawaiian citizens, who by the terms
of the treaty had become citizens of the United States.
1 For treaty of 1897, S. Report No. 681, 55th Cong. 2d Sess. p. 96.
For debate in House, Congressional Record, vol. xxxi. pp. 5770-5973 ; in
Senate, 6140-6693. For Joint Resolution, 30 Stat, at L. 750. For
organic act of territory, 31 Stat, at L. 141.
384 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
The sovereignty of the United States has been peace-
fully accepted by all its inhabitants, and after a hun-
dred years of turmoil and uncertainty the islands are
reposing in prosperity and stability, disturbed only by
the political excitement incident to a democratic system
of government.
It has not been possible, within the compass of this
volume, to narrate in detail the events attending the
transfer of Hawaii to the United States or to review
the merits of the controversy on that subject. The
citation of official documents given will enable the
student to pursue his investigation at will.
i The annexation of Hawaii to the United States was
the necessary result of the policy announced by Secre-
tary Webster in 1842, and steadily pursued by each
succeeding administration. This result was foreseen
by European statesmen such as Lord Palmerston, and
by intelligent observers of the geographical situation of
the islands in relation to the commerce of the Pacific.
The reasons for it were doubly increased by the acqui-
sition of the Philippine Islands. Hawaii then became
more than an outpost of the territory of the American
Union on the western coast of the continent. It was a
link in the chain of its possessions in the Pacific. It
would have been the excess of political unwisdom to
allow this group of islands to fall into the hands of
Great Britain or Japan, either of which powers stood
ready to occupy them.
The native inhabitants had proved themselves in-
capable of maintaining a respectable and responsible
government, and lacked the energy or the will to
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII 385
improve the advantages which Providence had given
them in a fertile soil. They were fast dying out as a
race, and their places were being occupied by sturdy
laborers from China and Japan. There was presented
to the American residents the same problem which con-
fronted their forefathers two centuries before in their
contact with the aborigines of the Atlantic coast.
A government was established in Hawaii which had
all the elements of a de jure and de facto sovereignty,
and had vigorously maintained itself for four years. It
sought for incorporation into the American Union.
/Under all the circumstances the President and Con^
(gress of the United States would have been recreant to J
] their trust if they had failed to take advantage of the
^opportunity.
XII
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION
A review of the diplomatic relations of the United
States in the Pacific Ocean would hardly be complete
without some reference to the Samoan Islands, although
their situation south of the equator places them in great
measure beyond the sphere of American activity in that
ocean. Besides, their recent history brings into prom-
inence the policy of the United States respecting the
native governments of the groups of islands in Poly-
nesia, and furnishes an example of the effects of an
alliance or joint engagement with other powers.
The first permanent intercourse of the inhabitants of
the Samoan group with foreigners was with missionaries.
A few years after the establishment of the American
missions in Hawaii, the London Missionary Society —
an organization which has done much useful work in
Polynesia — sent missionaries to Samoa, and they have
continued to labor there with considerable success up
to the present time. The general testimony is that
their influence on the inhabitants has been salutary.
Mr. Tripp, the United States commissioner sent in 1899
to investigate the condition of affairs, reported to the
Secretary of State that " these people are far from
I being savages. They are splendid specimens of physi-
\ cal manhood, and all are well informed about matters
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION 387
of general information. They are nearly all Christians,
and are very devout in their attachment to their church
and religion. . . . Thanks to the missionaries the great
hulk of the natives and nearly all the chiefs can read
and write and are adopting the habits of civilization
with great alacrity." In recent years the Catholics
have established missions, and have gathered a consider-
able number of adherents.
Foreign traders arrived soon after the missionaries, "]
but it was several years before they permanently settled
in the islands. The first to establish themselves were
the Germans, and they were followed by British and
Americans. The intercourse of this class has had a
most deleterious effect upon the natives. They inter-
fered with the government, stirred up strife, and set the
people at variance with each other through their support
of rival chiefs. They circumvented or disregarded the
prohibitions which the missionaries had induced the
native rulers to enact against the importation of fire-
arms and liquors. The injurious effect of this impor-
tation was brought to the attention of the British
government, and Parliament enacted laws making the
traffic unlawful for British subjects in the islands still
under native rule. Hence the guilty parties in this
nefarious commerce were mostly the Germans and
Americans.
The first time the attention of the United States was
officially called to these islands was in 1872. Com-
mander Meade, in the naval steamer Narragansett, on a
cruise in the South Pacific, entered the harbor of Pago
Pago in Tutuila, and found the islands in a state of
388 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
/ great disorder and fearful of foreign domination. At
the solicitation of the great chief of the island of Tu-
tuila he entered into an agreement with the latter
whereby the harbor of Pago Pago — said to be the
best in the South Seas — was ceded to the United States
as a naval station, and the commander for his govern-
ment assumed a protectorate over the dominions of the
chief. Although the act was done without authority,
President Grant sent the agreement to the Senate for
its consideration, stating that the acquisition of the
harbor would be of great advantage, but that a modifi-
cation as to the proposed protectorate ought to be made
before the agreement should be approved. The Senate,
however, took no action upon it.
Doubtless influenced by the Meade agreement, Sec-
retary Fish in 1873 sent a special agent — A. B.
Steinberger — to Samoa to report upon its condition,
especially with a view to the increase of commercial re-
lations. Steinberger returned to the United States and
submitted his report, and was again sent to the islands,
bearing kindly messages and presents from the Presi-
dent to its chiefs. In his instructions he was told that
he could not give the chiefs any assurance of a protec-
torate, as it was " adverse to the usual traditions of
the government." With this second visit Steinberger's
connection with the government of the United States
ceased, but he had so ingratiated himself with the
rulers as to be made their adviser, and for a few years
was the controlling spirit of the island government.
He, however, incurred the disfavor of the British and
American consuls, because of too great an intimacy
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION 389
with the leading German firm, and with the approval!
of the American consul was deported in a British man- 1
of -war, and thus ended his career as premier.1
The disorder in Samoa continuing, the chiefs looked
to some foreign power to give them a stable govern-
ment. A deputation went in 1877 to Fiji to ask sup-
port from the British authorities there, but without
success. The same year they dispatched an envoy to
Washington to seek a protectorate from the United
States. The protectorate was declined, but Secretary
Evarts made a commercial treaty with him in 1§I8*
which was afterwards ratified by the chiefs, and in
which the use of Pago Pago as a naval station was f
secured. The following year commercial treaties with
the chiefs were made by Germany and Great Britain, j
Thus by these three powers was the independence of l
Samoa recognized. The treaties were followed by a
convention the same year between the three powers,
represented by their consuls, and the king of Samoa,
whereby a municipal government, under control of the
three consuls, was provided for Apia, the chief town of
the islands.2
The next few years were full of wrangling between
the consuls of the three treaty powers, and of discord,
and sometimes of open war, between the recognized
king, Malietoa, and the rival aspirants, Tamasese and
1 7 Presidents' Messages, 168 ; S. Ex. Doc. 45, 43d Cong. 1st Sess. ;
H. Ex. Doc. 161, 44th Cong. 1st Sess. ; H. Ex. Doc. 44, 44th Cong. 2d
Sess. ; A Foot-Note to History, Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, by
Robert Louis Stevenson, New York, 1892, p. 38.
2 7 Presidents' Messages, 469, 497 ; Treaties of U. S. 972 ; H. Ex. Doc.
238, 50th Cong. 1st Sess. pp. 126-134.
390 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Mataafa. The Germans had been longest on the
islands, and controlled much the greater part of their
trade. They had also acquired, largely by very ques-
tionable transactions with the natives, the possession
of considerable areas of land. The trade with Great
Britain was next in importance, but very small. The
British government had two reasons for its interest in
the islands : the presence of the English missionaries
and the proximity of its possessions in that quarter of
the globe. The commerce of the United States was
quite insignificant, and there were few American resi-
dents. The chiefs had, however, time and again peti-
tioned the United States to extend its protection against
occupation by other powers, and twice had the American
consul, upon his own responsibility, raised the national
flag, to prevent, as he alleged, the annexation of the
islands, first by Great Britain and then by Germany.
This turbulent state of affairs reached a crisis in
1885, when the German consul, on the claim that
German interests were not protected, assumed control
of affairs in the name of his government, and raised
his flag in evidence of the exercise of sovereignty.
This was responded to on the part of the American
consul by the display of his flag, accompanied by the
proclamation of an American protectorate over the
islands. The act of the consul was promptly disavowed
by the United States, and later the German government
disclaimed responsibility for the conduct of its consul.
But the events caused Secretary Bayard to address a
note to both the German and British governments, ask-
ing that their ministers at Washington be authorized
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION 391
to confer with him upon some scheme which would
preserve the peace and assure to the islands a stable
government. This proposition was assented to, and a
conference of the three powers was held in Washington
during the year 1887.
Two plans for the reorganization of the Samoan gov-
ernment were submitted. One was by the German
minister, and was supported by his British colleague,
the two governments having apparently reached an
understanding as to their respective interests in the
Pacific. This plan, based upon the claim of the superior
interests of Germany in Samoa, would have given to
that power a controlling influence in the islands. Mr.
Bayard strenuously objected to the predominant control
of any one power, and he proposed that the adminis-
tration of affairs should be committed to an executive
council consisting of the king and three foreigners, one
to be nominated by each of the powers, and that the
three governments should in turn keep a vessel in
Samoan waters, to preserve the peace, and enforce, if
necessary, the orders of the executive council.
The conference failed to reach an agreement, and an
adjournment of some months was taken, to enable the
British and German ministers to consult their govern-
ments, it being understood that the status quo would
be meanwhile maintained. Immediately after the ad-
journment, the German consul, under the orders of his
government, made a demand upon Malietoa for repara-
tion for certain wrongs alleged to have been committed
by him and his people previous to the meeting of the
conference, and upon his refusal war was declared,
392 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
/ Malietoa was dethroned and deported, and Tamasese
was installed as king, with a German, one Brandeis, as
adviser. This provoked a counter-revolution led by
Mataafa, and again general disorder prevailed through-
out the group.
Much indignation was felt in the United States
against Germany on account of its attitude in Samoa,
and Congress made an appropriation of a half million
of dollars for the protection of American interests.
President Cleveland dispatched a squadron of the navy
to Apia, which soon after its arrival was destroyed in
the harbor by a hurricane, with the loss of a consider-
able number of its officers and men, an event which
cast a gloom over the country, but gave increased inter-
est to the question.
Secretary Bayard, by note to the minister at Berlin,
made an energetic protest against the action of the
German authorities in Samoa, taken with a view to ob-
tain personal and commercial advantages and political
supremacy, which was in direct violation of the agree-
ment of the conference. On the other hand, he de-
clared that the policy of the United States had been
actuated not so much by the idea of any commercial
interest, as by a benevolent desire to promote the de-
velopment and secure the independence of one of the
few remaining autonomous native governments in the
Pacific Ocean. He passed in review the recent events
in that quarter of the globe, showing how the Euro-
pean governments had appropriated, at their own will,
the Polynesian islands, until almost the last vestige of
native autonomy had been obliterated.
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION 393
This note initiated a correspondence, which led to a
proposition from Count Bismarck, in February, 1889,
for the reassembling of the conference of the three
powers, and invited a meeting at Berlin. This propo-
sition was promptly accepted by Secretary Bayard, but
as President Cleveland's administration was drawing to
a close, the appointment of the American representa-l,
tives to the conference was left to his successor. Soon \
after the inauguration of President Harrison, Messrs.
Kasson, W. W. Phelps, and Bates were appointed com-
missioners to Berlin, Mr. Bates having made a visit to
Samoa as special agent under the direction of Secretary
Bayard. I
In giving instructions to the commissioners, Secretary"^
Blaine called attention to the plan proposed by Secre-
tary Bayard in the first conference, and said that " It
was not in harmony with the established policy of this *
government. For if it is not a joint protectorate, to
which there are such grave and obvious objections, it is
hardly less than that and does not in any event promise
efficient action." He said the President disapproved of
the plan, but if intervention in the affairs of Samoa
should become absolutely necessary in the existing com-
plication, " It is the earnest desire of the President that
this intervention should be temporary." The commis-
sioners, however, found that no other plan than joint?
intervention could save the islands from the complete ]
control of Germany, and Secretary Bayard's plan was
adopted in principle, though considerably modified in ]
detail.
The plan as finally agreed to recognized the inde-
394 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
1 pendence of the Samoan government and the right of
j*^ ^<$ > the natives to choose their king and form of govern-
\ ^ ment according to their own laws and customs ; Malie-
toa was recognized as king till his fixed term expired ;
JfJ^ M*? a foreign chief justice was to be appointed by agree-
. y^' ment of the three powers, and was given extensive au-
thority not only of a judicial, but also of a political
character ; a foreign municipal government for Apia,
with a foreign president chosen by the three powers,
was to be organized ; and a foreign land commission of
three members, one selected by each power, was to be
constituted to pass upon all land titles, a measure which
had been strongly urged by Secretary Bayard ; a method
of taxation was devised ; and the sale of firearms and
liquors to the natives was prohibited.1
It is difficult to recognize in this plan an independ-
ent Samoan government, but no other method of secur-
ing order and peace seemed possible except to transfer
the control of the government to Germany. Malietoa
and his chiefs signified their acceptance of the plan,
and the machinery of the new government was put into
operation. But in a little while it began to encounter
difficulties. The writs of the chief justice were not re-
spected by the natives ; they likewise resisted the taxes
levied upon them ; the chief justice and the president
of the Apia municipality were soon at cross-purposes ;
and Mataafa raised the standard of revolt, and when he
was deported by the powers, Tamasese continued the
1 H. Ex. Doc. 238, 50th Cong. 1st Sess. ; S. Ex. Docs. 31, 68, and 102 ;
H. Ex. Docs. 118 and 119, 50th Cong. 2d Sess. ; U. S. For. Rel. 1889,
pp. 179-423. For tripartite treaty, ib. 353.
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION 395
strife for the kingship. The three nations were fre-
quently required to intervene with their men-of-war to
restore order ; and the event anticipated by Secretary
Blaine, that the joint protectorate scheme would not j
produce " efficient action/' was in process of realiza-
tion.
During Mr. Cleveland's second administration it be-
came evident that the joint protectorate, which his
former administration had initiated, was a failure ; and
his Secretary of State, Mr. Gresham, frankly recognized
the mistake which had been committed, characterizing
it as " the first departure from our traditional and well
established policy of avoiding entangling alliances with
foreign powers in relation to objects remote from this
hemisphere." The correspondence respecting the sub-
ject was sent to Congress in May, 1894, and in his next
annual message President Cleveland recommended that
steps be taken to withdraw from the joint government.
He renewed this recommendation in his annual message
of 1895, but Congress took no action respecting it.1
The unsatisfactory workings of the tripartite protec-
torate continued during the administration of President
McKinley, but as no better adjustment was suggested,
the government continued under that plan until a state
of affairs developed which forced a renewed considera-
tion of the subject upon the powers. Malietoa died in
1898, and this event revived the conflicting claims to
the kingship. The chief justice decided in favor of
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1894, Appendix i. p. 504 ; 9 Presidents' Messages, 439,
531, 635. For events up to 1892, Stevenson's Samoa (cited) ; from 1881
to 1885, My Consulate in Samoa, by W. B. Churchward, London, 1887.
396 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Malietoa Tanu, and Mataafa, who had been brought
back from exile, again inaugurated civil war. The
German consul and resident subjects sympathized with
I Mataafa, and the American and British consuls sought
| to uphold the authority of the legitimate ruler. This
awakened the former national antagonism, which had
for some years been quiescent. The commanders of
the American and British men-of-war, which had been
isent to the scene of disorder, felt it necessary to land
larines and restrain the aggressions of the natives. In
fthe conflicts which ensued several American officers and
isailors lost their lives, and a considerable amount of
property was destroyed.
The governments of the three nations determined to
seek an effective remedy for the intolerable condition
of affairs, and they appointed a commission, consisting
of one representative of each nation, to visit Samoa
with full power to take whatever steps were necessary
to restore order, and to suggest a plan for a permanent
settlement of the government of the islands. The
commission sailed from San Francisco in 1899. On
their arrival their authority was recognized by all the
' consuls and by the Samoan officials and chiefs, and in a
short time they were able to establish order. On July
18 they united in a report, accompanied by a new plan
of government, which materially modified the Berlin
act or treaty of 1889, but they expressed the conviction
that it would be impossible to find a remedy for the
i troubles through the joint administration of the three
powers.
It thus became evident that joint control of the
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION 397
islands was impracticable. Germany proposed a parti-
tion of the group among the powers. Great Britain,
having the assurance from Germany of territorial com-
pensation in other directions, acquiesced in the pro-
position. The trade of the United States with Samoa
was very inconsiderable, and its chief material interest
in the group was the use of the harbor of Pago Pago
as a naval station. An agreement was finally reached*]
between the three powers that the United States should |
be given the control of Tutuila and its outlying islets,
and that all the other islands should be taken by Ger-
many ; and treaties to that effect were signed in Novem-
ber and December, J.899. Malietoa Tanu protested
against this disposition of his kingdom, and also ad-
dressed a letter to the London " Times," in which he
asserted that the civilization which had been introduced
by the foreign governments into Polynesia was inferior
to that which its inhabitants previously possessed.1
The United States had made an honest effort to pre-
serve, as Secretary Bayard expressed it, " almost the
last vestige of native autonomy in the islands of the
Pacific." It had failed, mainly owing to the perverse
obstruction of the German interests in the islands, and
the only alternative for the United States seemed to be
a withdrawal from the ineffectual and unsatisfactory
joint control. More than twenty years previously it
had acquired the right to use the commodious harbor
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1899, pp. 604-673 ; for treaty of partition, ib. 667 ;
London Times, Jan. 12, 1900. For full review of Samoan affairs, Amer-
ican Diplomatic Questions, by John B. Henderson, Jr., New York, 1901,
chap. iii. ; for briefer account, American Relations in the Pacific, by
J. M. Callahan, Baltimore, 1901, chap. ix.
398 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
\ of Pago Pago, a privilege which had become much
more valuable on account of its recent great maritime
and territorial expansion in the Pacific. In order to
make that privilege effective it became necessary, in the
partition, to reserve to itself the control of the small
island which contains this harbor. Up to the present
the inhabitants of Tutuila have been left to the govern-
ment of their own chiefs, with such supervision as the
commandant of the naval station of Pago Pago finds it
necessary to exercise, in order to restrain illicit foreign
trade and intercourse.
* This experiment of controlling distant territory in
I cooperation with other foreign powers may be accepted
as a warning to the United States to avoid such compli-
cations in the future. And yet the very next year after
the abandonment of the tripartite control in Samoa the
United States was forced into joint action with ten
other powers, for the purpose of protecting its inter-
ests in China. While the caution which Washington
gave his countrymen in his farewell address to avoid en-
tangling alliances has not lost its virtue, the nation has
attained such a position among the powers of the earth
that it cannot remain a passive spectator of interna-
tional affairs.
xm
THE SPANISH WAR : ITS RESULTS
The foregoing pages constitute a narrative of the
disinterested efforts of the United States to establish
and maintain friendly relations and free commercial
intercourse with the countries of the Orient. It has
been seen that whenever the American representatives
have approached the governments of China, Japan,
Korea, and Siam, it was with the statement that their
far-away people cherish no scheme of territorial ag-
grandizement in that region of the world, and that
their only desire was to secure mutual benefit from the
establishment of trade and to extend the influence of
Christian civilization.
An event is now to be recorded which introduced a
new factor in the relations of the United States with
the Orient and which materially affected its political
and commercial conditions and changed its foreign pol-
icy. From being a distant country concerned only
in unselfish friendship and industrial development, it
suddenly and unexpectedly became sovereign over a
numerous Asiatic people and possessed of an extensive
territorial domain in that quarter of the globe which
was to be defended by an American army and navy.
The war with Spain in 1898 was entered upon by the
government and people of the United States with no
400 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
thought of territorial acquisition in the Pacific Ocean.
The condition of the island of Cuba had been for three
quarters of a century a source of embarrassment and
concern to them, and the war was undertaken, in the
language of President McKinley to Congress, " to re-
lieve the intolerable condition of affairs which is at
our doors." The joint resolution of Congress of April
20, 1898, which was virtually the declaration of war,
announced the sole purpose to be the expulsion of Spain
from Cuba and the establishment there of a free and
independent government. But the victory of Admiral
Dewey in Manila Bay modified all these plans. The
dispatch of his squadron to the Philippines was made
necessary by the exposure of American commerce in
the Orient and of American cities and towns on the
Pacific coast to the reprisals of the Spanish fleet. He
fulfilled his orders when he destroyed that fleet. But
there was not a single harbor in all the Asiatic waters
where his squadron could remain in time of war. His
only course was to continue in the harbor captured
from the enemy till he received orders from his govern-
ment.1
The close of the war found the Americans in posses-
sion of Cuba, Porto Rico, and Manila Bay. The dispo-
sition of these conquests presented a serious problem to
their government.
The year 1852 saw the end of the careers of the
1 During the time the admiral remained in Manila Bay he added to his
brilliant achievement of arms by wise conduct in his relations with the
commanders of foreign squadrons in sympathy with the defeated foe, thus
showing himself worthy to be ranked with Perry and Schufeldt in diplo-
matic service in the Orient.
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 401
triumvirate of great statesmen of the middle period of
American history, Calhoun, Clay, and Webster. Henry
Clay, in the early period of his political life, was chiefly
instrumental in precipitating war with England, in ex-
pectation of the conquest of Canada ; and he devoted
the later years of his public service to laying the foun-
dation of the system of protection out of which has
come in large measure the present power and prosperity
of the nation. W. H. Seward, who realized more clearly
than any other American the great destiny of his
country in the Pacific Ocean, standing by the bier of
Clay in the senate chamber, uttered these words, which
to-day sound like the inspiration of the seer : —
" Certainly, Sir, the great lights of the Senate have
set. . . . We are rising to another and a more sublime
stage of national progress — that of expanding wealth
and rapid territorial aggrandizement. Our institutions
throw a broad shadow across the St. Lawrence, and
stretching beyond the valley of Mexico, reaches even to
the plains of Central America ; while the Sandwich
Islands and the shores of China recognize its renovating
influence. Wherever that influence is felt, a desire for
protection under these institutions is awakened. Ex-
pansion seems to be regulated, not by any difficulties of
resistance, but from the moderation which results from
our own internal constitution. No one knows how
rapidly that restraint may give way. Who can tell how
fast or how far it ought to yield? Commerce has
brought the ancient continents near to us, and cre-
ated necessities for new positions — perhaps connec-
tions or colonies there. . . . Even prudence will soon
402 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
be required to decide whether distant regions, East or
West, shall come under our protection, or be left to
aggrandize a rapidly spreading and hostile domain of
despotism. Sir, who among us is equal to these mighty
questions ? I fear there is no one." *
These " mighty questions " confronted President Mc-
Kinley at the close of the Spanish war. It was a com-
paratively easy matter to decide respecting Cuba and
Porto Rico, but the disposition of the Philippines was a
much more difficult problem. The country had already
to some extent entered upon territorial acquisition in
the Pacific. The right to the occupation of the island
of Tutuila, in the Samoan group, with the commodious
harbor of Pago Pago, had been acquired years before,
and the Hawaiian Islands had been added to the Ameri-
can Union. But it was a long stretch across the Pacific
to the southern shores of China and Siam. In his per-
plexity as to the course to be pursued, the President
caused to be inserted in the protocol of August 12,
1898, which suspended hostilities and formed the basis
for the treaty of peace, the following provision : —
" The United States will occupy and hold the city,
bay and harbor of Manila, pending the conclusion of a
treaty of peace, which shall determine the control, dis-
position and government of the Philippines."
While the protocol provided that Spain should relin-
quish its sovereignty over Cuba, and that it should cede
to the United States Porto Rico and other islands in
the West Indies, no allusion was made to a change of
1 Obituary Addresses on the Death of Henry Clay, Washington, 1852,
p. 49.
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 403
sovereignty in the Philippines. A careful examination
of the diplomatic history of the period shows that the
attitude of the government which resulted in the ac-
quisition of those islands passed through three stages
before the final consummation. In the first stage the
President, who from the beginning to the conclusion
guided the negotiations, was not in favor of demanding
the sovereignty and possession of the islands. The
language of the protocol sustains this view, and it is
confirmed by the President's unofficial declarations.1
A month after the protocol was signed, Messrs. W. R.
Day, C. K. Davis, W. P. Frye, George Gray, and White-
law Reid were appointed commissioners to negotiate a
treaty of peace ; and three days afterwards they received
their instructions. In this interval the President had
changed his attitude. The instructions given the com-
missioners say : " Without any original thought of
complete or even partial acquisition, the presence and
success of our arms at Manila [which had been surren-
dered the day after the protocol was signed] impose upon
us obligations which we cannot disregard. The march
of events rules and overrules human action. " The com-
missioners were directed to ask for the cession of the
island of Luzon, and for reciprocal commercial privileges
in the other islands of the Spanish group.
The American representatives arrived in Paris Sep-
tember 28, and held their first meeting with the Spanish
1 On January, 1899, President McKinley stated to Dr. Schurman that
he did not want the Philippine Islands. He said : " In the protocol to the
treaty I left myself free not to take them ; but in the end there was no
alternative." Philippine Affairs, An Address by J. G. Schurman, New
York, 1902, p. 2.
404 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
commissioners October 1. During recess between con-
ferences with the Spanish negotiators, and before the
subject of the Philippines was reached, they examined a
number of persons more or less informed as to these
islands, including General Merritt, commander of the
American army at Manila, who was ordered to Paris
to advise with the commissioners. The trend of the
information received by them was that the natives were
strongly opposed to the restoration of Spanish author-
ity ; that its rule had been most oppressive and cruel ;
that the natives were not capable of sustaining an inde-
pendent government ; and that if American authority
was withdrawn the islands would fall into hopeless
anarchy and misrule. This testimony as taken was
cabled to Washington. On October 25, Mr. Day (late
Secretary of State) informed the President that there
existed differences of opinion among the commission
as to the course to be pursued, and asked for further
instructions. He himself doubted the wisdom of ex-
tending American sovereignty over the Philippines, but
would acquiesce in the occupation of Luzon as a com-
mercial base and a naval station. Senator Gray opposed
the taking of any part of the territory. The other three
commissioners favored a demand for the cession of the
entire Philippine group.
Meanwhile the President had made a visit through
the States of the central West, attended several peace
jubilees, and returned to Washington impressed with
the popular sentiment apparently favorable to the acqui-
sition of all the Philippine Islands ; and on October 26
Secretary Hay cabled the commission that the President
THE SPANISH WAR : ITS RESULTS 405
was convinced that, on political, commercial, and hu-
manitarian grounds, the cession must be of the whole
archipelago. He " is deeply sensible of the grave re-
sponsibilities it will impose," but he believes "this course
will entail less trouble than any other, and besides will
best subserve the interests of the people involved, for
whose welfare we cannot escape responsibility."
Thus the third and last stage in the attitude of the
government was reached, and a proposition was sub-
mitted to the Spanish commissioners for the cession of
the Philippines, and the payment to Spain of twenty
millions of dollars. The Spanish commissioners pro-
tested that the proposition was in violation of the peace
protocol, but in order to avoid the horrors of war, they
resigned themselves " to the painful strait of submitting
to the law of the victor ; " and the treaty of peace was
signed which contained the cession of the entire Philip-
pine group to the United States.1
Three reasons were advanced for requiring the ces-
sion of the Philippines, based upon political, commercial,
and moral grounds.
It was claimed that the United States had reached a
stage in its history where it should no longer confine its
influences to the western hemisphere. Modern means
of communication had annihilated distance, so that the
United States was nearer to the Philippines than it was
to California when that territory was acquired from
1 Peace Protocol, S. Doc. No. 62, Pt. i. 55th Cong. 3d Sess. 282 ; In-
structions to Peace Commissioners, S. Doc. 148, 56th Cong. 2d Sess. 3 ;
Negotiations, Docs. Nos. 62 and 148 (cited) ; Treaty of Peace, Doc. No.
62 (cited), 5.
406 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Mexico. The Pacific Ocean had become the area of
interest to the civilized world, and it was not only
proper, but essential to the future prosperity of the
United States to secure a commanding and controlling
station on the Asiatic side of the Pacific.
The argument for a complete cession from a commer-
cial standpoint was that the recent enormous increase
in productiveness of American industries and in the
export trade required an extension of markets ; that it
was impossible to enter into competition with European
countries without following their methods in securing a
base for commercial operations ; and that, although the
policy of the United States was " the open door," this
could not be maintained without asserting American
political power, especially in the part of the world where
the greatest markets were situated.
The moral grounds for the possession of the Philip-
pines were that the colonial administration of Spain had
been conducted with great cruelty, injustice, and in dis-
regard of personal rights; that it would be inhuman
and morally wrong to permit Spain to retain her sover-
eignty ; that the weakened power of that government
would be unable to tranquillize the disordered and law-
less conditions existing in the islands, to protect life and
property, and to perform the obligations incident to
government ; and that it was for the interest of the
people of the Philippines in particular, and mankind in
general, to extend to the archipelago the principles of
civil liberty, equality, and self-government, which form
the basis of American institutions, and that to do so was
a duty to the world which the United States could not
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 407
rightfully ignore. It is impossible to read the utter-
ances of President McKinley during and following the
negotiations, without being satisfied that these latter
considerations exercised a controlling influence with
him in determining the destiny of the islands.
There was a large party in the United States which
combated all these reasons, and contended that the ad-
dition to the American domain of distant regions and
races would lead to hurtful innovations in the system of
government, to the oppression of an unwilling people,
to a large increase in the standing army and the navy
with heavy financial burdens, and to threatening for-
eign complications. But this opposition was no greater
than had been manifested at the time of the addition
to the American possessions of the Louisiana territory,
Texas, California, and Hawaii. Since the beginning of
its history, every step taken in the enlargement of the
bounds of the Union had been popular with the masses
of its citizens, had resulted in increased prosperity to
the nation, and in benefit to the inhabitants of the
annexed territory. Such, it was argued, would be the
result as to the new possessions in the Orient.
Following soon after the acquisition of the Philip-
pines, and while the government of the United States
was actively engaged in restoring order and establish-
ing a stable administration in its new possessions, the
mutterings of a storm were heard in China which threat-
ened to disorganize the government of that country,
to paralyze its commerce, and to put in peril the lives
and property of all foreign residents. In a few months
the storm broke with a violence hitherto unknown
408 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
in that land of riots and disorder. The civilized world
was horrified by the massacre of foreigners, — men,
women, and helpless children, — the destruction of for-
eign-built railways and property, and finally by the
news that one foreign minister had been murdered in
a street of the capital, and that all the other diplomatic
representatives were besieged in their legations and
their lives threatened by a bloodthirsty mob which had
overawed or was controlling the imperial government.
In answer to the urgent call which came from the be-
leaguered diplomats and foreigners resident at Peking,
Tientsin, and other places, the United States, within a
brief space was able from its forces in the Philippines
to land upon Chinese soil a division of its army, sup-
ported by a squadron of its navy, and to take an
important and honorable part in the rescue of its
citizens and in the pacification and reorganization of
the empire.
The so-called " Boxer " movement, which was the
occasion of these troubles, suddenly dominated several
of the most populous provinces and the imperial capital,
and for a time threatened to carry the whole nation
with it, in its cry for the expulsion of all foreigners
from the country. Such a widespread and powerful
movement, which imposed upon the United States and
the other civilized powers the task of readjusting the
foreign and domestic relations of the great empire,
demands careful consideration.
China has been described as honeycombed with
secret societies. The / Ho Tuan, or "Boxers," va-
riously translated the " Sacred Harmony Fist," " Fists
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 409
of Righteous Harmony," or " The Fist of Equality,"
had existed in the province of Shantung for many
years, and so long ago as 1803 it had been prohibited
by the government. It seems to have had as its object
mutual benefit and support, mixed with patriotic and
religious ideas and the practice of mysticism and magic.
One of the best informed writers on Chinese affairs
says the organization " remains and perhaps will con-
tinue to remain to a large extent a mystery to Occi-
dentals." The events following the war with Japan
gave to it increased activity, and, instigated and sup-
ported by the mandarins and literati, it rapidly spread
through the province. With the cry of " Drive out the
foreigners and uphold the dynasty," it entered upon its
self-appointed work of the expulsion of all foreigners
from China, which culminated in the siege of the lega-
tions and the occupation of Peking by the armies of
the treaty powers.1
The immediate cause of the " Boxer " uprising was
the antipathy to foreigners and foreign ways, a feeling
which prevails throughout the entire population of the
empire, with very rare exceptions?) The foreigners in
China may be divided into three classes, — the mis-
sionaries, the merchants, and the public officials of
other nations ; and the lines of foreign activity are
three, — missionary, commercial, and political.
The missionary movement in the interior of China
1 The Boxer Rising, Shanghai Mercury, Shanghai, 1900 ; 1 China in
Convulsion, by Rev. A. H. Smith, New York, 1901, chaps, x-xiii. ; The
Siege of Peking, by Dr. W. A. P. Martin, New York, 1900, chap. iv. ;
China and the Powers, by H. C. Thompson, London, 1902, chaps, i. and
xiii. ; U. S. For. Rel. 1898, China ; S. Ex. Doc. 67, 57th Cong. 1st Sess. 75.
410 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
0tf/A&*<t^&rf&& not really begin until after the signing of the
fj treaties of 185&J Some work had been done previously
by the Roman Catholics, but without security and pro-
tection, and by the Protestants in the vicinity of the
treaty ports, but the country had been practically closed
to Christianity since the earliest intercourse with Euro-
peans. Francis Xavier, returning from his successful
labors in Japan, landed on the coast* of China in 1552
and found it hermetically sealed against him. His
noble soul could not brook the restraint, and there he
died, exclaiming, " Oh ! rock, rock, when wilt thou
open?" By the American and British treaties of
1858 religious liberty was for the first time guaran-
teed, and by the French treaty the missionaries were
permitted to acquire land and erect buildings in all
the provinces. Since that date Christianity has been
extended throughout almost all parts of the empire.
There are now in the field about eighteen hundred
Catholic and twenty-eight hundred Protestant foreign
missionaries, and the converts are variously estimated
tat from five hundred thousand to over one million.
The testimony of the best observers is that the
Chinese are not inclined to religious persecution, and
that their antipathy to the missionaries is not so much
on account of their religion as because they are for-
eigners and their presence leads to the introduction
of foreign methods. Nevertheless the propagation of
I Christianity has been attended by serious opposition
and bloody riots. That of Tientsin in 1870 has already
been noticed. The years 1883-84 and 1891 were
marked by violent attacks upon the missions, and that
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 411
of 1895, following the Japanese war, was one of the 1
most serious and widespread, until all former ones werej
surpassed by the slaughter of 1900.
The natural hatred of foreigners was aggravated by
stories emanating from the gentry and literati, circu-
lated by word of mouth, by placard and pamphlet,
charging the missionaries with the kidnapping of chil-
dren, murder, magic, and vile deeds. Besides, the \
teaching of Christianity tended to the introduction of \
ideas hostile to the existing governmental order and j
struck at ancestor worship. The missionaries opposed j
such native customs as slavery, concubinage, support of |
heathen festivals, and foot-binding. In fact, in China,
as elsewhere and in all ages, the influence of Chris-
tianity was revolutionary. Its Founder declared that
he " came not to send peace, but a sword." Paul, the
first missionary, when he declared "the Gospel is the
power of God," used the Greek word which has been
anglicized to designate the most powerful of all modern
explosives, dynamite. If the introduction of Chris-
tianity into the little island of Britain was attended
with bloodshed and disorder for four hundred years, it
should not be regarded as strange that in the mighty
empire of the East its propagation has been marked by
civil commotion.
But the missionaries were not merely the preachers
of a new religion. They were useful to the govern-
ment and society in many ways. The service they
have rendered in diplomacy has already been referred
to. Everywhere they brought the benefits of educa-
tion and medicine and established schools and hospitals.
412 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
Minister Denby, who from his long official residence in
China was the most competent judge, in a dispatch to
the Department of State, said of the missionaries, " that
I their influence is beneficial to the natives ; that the
\ arts and sciences and civilization are greatly spread by
their efforts; that many useful Western books are
translated by them into Chinese ; and that they are the
leaders in all charitable work. ... In the interest,
therefore, of civilization, missionaries ought not only
to be tolerated, but ought to receive protection." Their
/'claim to protection and their useful service to China
] had been recognized by imperial edicts, but these could
| not, in the eyes of the people, change their character
I as odious foreigners.1
A careful examination will show that missions were
far from being the chief cause of the • disturbances of
1900. From the foregoing chapters it has been seen
that the principal object of securing intercourse with
the East by the Christian nations has been the intro-
duction and^extension of c^onimerce. On its account
China had time and again suffered war and great
humiliation at the hands of powerful European nations.
The unwelcome traffic in opium had spread its baleful
effects throughout the whole land. The establishment
of lines of steamships and the construction of railroads
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1880-1897, China ; Williams's Hist. China, 420-437 ;
Martin's Cathay, Pt. ii. chap. xv. ; Thompson's China, chaps, xv. and xvi.;
1 Smith's China, etc., chaps, iii.-vi. ; China, her History, Diplomacy,
and Commerce, by E. H. Parker, London, 1901, chap. xv. ; Missionary
Principles and Practice, by Robt. Speer, New York, 1902, p. 173 ; Report
on China Missions, by Rev. A. J. Brown, New York, 1901, pp. 16-23 ;
U. S. For. Rel. 1895, p. 197 ; 1899, pp. 154-178.
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 413
were throwing hundreds of thousands of Chinese outf
of employment. The growing importation of Ameril
can and British cotton fabrics were making idle looms^
and un tilled cotton fields. American kerosene was)
destroying the husbandry of vegetable oils. And in an)
infinity of other ways was Western commerce affecting
the domestic industries, and this with a people who
were intensely conservative, wedded to ancient customs,
and inveterate enemies of foreign trade.
The construction of railroads was bitterly opposed by
the masses of the people, not only for the reasons just
stated, but because it disturbed their venerated ances-
tral worship. Chinese burial places are not segregated,
but are found all over the face of the country. Their
desecration is regarded as the most heinous of crimes.
It is stated that the Germans, in constructing a line
from their port of Kiaochau, a distance of forty-six^
miles, though using all the care possible to pass around
the most thickly located burial places, had to remove
no less than three thousand graves. It is not strange
to learn that all lines of railway have to be guarded by/
soldiers.
After the Japanese war a new impetus was given to
commercial enterprise. Foreign traders as well as mis-
sionaries visited the interior, and the Chinese saw their
country being overrun by the hated people. A scram-/
ble for railroad and mining concessions followed, sup-|
ported by the influence of the representatives of the
foreign governments ; grants were made to Russians,
French, British, Americans, Belgians, and others ; and
the whole territory of the empire seemed destined to be
414 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
ploughed over by the feared and hated locomotive, and
the most profitable enterprises to be placed in the hands
of the despised foreigners.1
But the most potent cause of the Boxer movement
was neither the missions nor commerce, but the polit-
ical influences which were operating for the dismem-
berment and destruction of the empire. These influ-
ences were especially manifest during 1897 and 1898.
The cession of Formosa to Japan in 1895 was not so
offensive, as it was the result of a great war and some
compensation to the victor in territory seemed natural.
But the effect of the next aggression was quite differ-
ent. Following the murder of two German Catholic
priests by a mob in Shantung in November, 1897, the
German government sent a strong naval force to the
spacious harbor of Kiaochau, ejected the Chinese forces
from the fortifications, and occupied the place with
marines. This was soon followed by the demand of
the German minister in Peking for an apology for the
j murder of the priests, a large indemnity, and a lease of
I the harbor and an adjoining strip of territory, with the
j privilege of building railroads and exploiting mines in
i the province of Shantung. The remonstrances of the
Tsung-li Yamen against the summary method of pro-
i
\
cedure and the exorbitant demands were of no avail.
The German seizure of Kiaochau was followed a month
later by the occupation of Port Arthur by a Eussian
1 The Problem in China, by A. R. Colquhoun, London, 1900 ; 1 Smith's
China, etc. chap. vii. ; Douglass's China, 447 ; The Story of the Chinese
Crisis, by A. Krausse, London, 1900, p. 135 ; China and the Powers, by
A. Ireland, Boston, 1902 ; Dr. Brown's Report, 9-13 ; Gen. Wilson's
China, 394 ; Speer's Missionary, etc. 157, 161.
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 415
fleet, and in March, 1898, Russia secured a lease of
that strong fortress and harbor, as well as the neigh-
boring port of Talienwan, in the peninsula of Liao-
tung, with the privilege of connecting them by railroad,
through Manchuria, with the Siberian trunk line. Only
three years before, Russia, in conjunction with its ally
France, and with Germany, had compelled Japan to
give up the Liaotung peninsula, on the ground that
a nation holding it might at any time threaten Peking.
The action of Russia led Great Britain to demand and
secure the lease of the fortress of Wei-hai-wei and a
strip of adjoining territory on the opposite promontory.
France, which had some years before taken the large
suzerain territory of Annam and Tonquin, also secured
ill 1898 an enlargement of its possessions in that region /
at the expense of China.
These proceedings were followed by agreements or
treaties between Bajssia and Great Britain, and between
QsHomy and Great Britain, as to what are termed
" spheres of influence " in China, without consulting
the government of that country or taking its wishes or
interests into account. At the demand of the same
powers, several new ports were opened to foreign trade,
with the usual concomitants of foreign territorial con-
cessions and exterritorial jurisdiction ; until now the
extensive Chinese Empire is reduced to the anomalous
condition of scarcely possessing a single harbor in all
its long line of seacoast where it can concentrate its
navy and establish a base of warlike operations, with-
out the consent of the treaty powers. Not the least of
the irritants which induced the Boxer movement was
416 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the foreign authority which was exercised in the treaty
ports, and the abuse and contempt with which the na-
tives were there treated.1
The rulers of China understood full well the causes
which had nerved their people to rise in their wrath
and undertake the impossible task of the expulsion of
the foreigners. In 1900, after the Boxer movement
had been put down, Li Hung Chang, in giving the
cause of the outbreak, stated that its chief impetus was
to be found in the high-handed course of Germany, and
it " was due to the deep-seated hatred of the Chinese
people towards foreigners. China had been oppressed,
trampled upon, coerced, cajoled, her territory taken,
and her usages flouted." The empress dowager, in her
famous proclamation issued when the Boxers were
reaching their ascendancy, and just before the violent
outburst of 1900, exclaimed : " The various powers
cast upon us looks of tiger-like voracity, hustling each
other in their endeavors to be the first to seize upon
our inmost territory. They think that China, having
neither money nor troops, would never venture to go
o war with them. They fail to understand, however,
at there are some things which this empire can never
consent to, and that, if hard pressed, we have no al-
ternative but to rely upon the justice of our cause, the
knowledge of which in our breasts strengthens our
1 U. S. For. Rel. 1898, pp. 182-191 ; 1900, p. 85 ; 1 Smith's China,
etc. chap. viii. ; The Break-Up of China, by Lord Charles Beresford,
New York, 1899, chap. xxx. ; Krausse's Chinese Crisis, 143, 147 ; China
in Transformation, by A. R. Colquhoun, London, 1898, chap. xiv. ; Es-
says on the Chinese Question, by Sir R. Hart, London, 1901, chap. v. ;
World Politics, by P. S. Reinsch, New York, 1900, pts. iii. and v.
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 417
resolve and steels us to present a united front against I
our aggressors."
Under the state of affairs thus briefly indicated, the
Boxers soon overran Shantung, spread through the
adjoining provinces, and were threatening the imperial
capital. In 1898 the Yellow Kiver overflowed its
banks, causing widespread misery, and in 1899 famine
prevailed in the near-by province of Kiangsu, and bands
of robbers and lawless men added to the general dis-
order. The political confusion at Peking likewise con-
tributed to the prevailing disorganization of the country.
While the mass of the people, including the ruling
classes, remained fixed in their conservative views, a
considerable body of intelligent men had become con-
vinced that China must follow the example of Japan,
and align itself with the Western nations in its govern-
ment and social institutions. The young emperor, who
had studied English and read numerous translations of
Western books, including the Bible, had gathered about
him a number of liberal men, who realized the deplor-
able condition of the empire, and believed it could be
overcome only by initiating reforms in the government.
The emperor at once undertook the task, and over
thirty edicts were issued in quick succession, providing
for most radical reforms in the administrative, financial,
and educational departments.
Li Hung Chang, a devoted adherent of the empress
dowager, not being in accord with these measures, was
relieved from his post in the Tsung-li Yamen. His
rival, Chang Chih Tung, who from a bitter foreign
hater had become a strong advocate of liberal ideas,
418 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
had written a book urging radical reforms, and by an
edict of the emperor this book was printed and scat-
tered broadcast over the land. ^/The emperor and his
advisers were, however, moving too fast.) The conser-
Svative members of the government appealed to the
empress dowager, who had a few years before nominally
withdrawn from participation in public affairs, and she
resolutely seized again the reins of government, prac-
tically dethroned the emperor, and proceeded to be-
head, banish, or imprison his supporters, his chief
adviser, Kang Yu Wei, however, having escaped and
^fled the country.1
f The reform movement of the emperor, which, if
carried out, might have restrained foreign aggression,
thus came to an end, and the government continued to
1 endure the demands of the foreigners, and its conduct
furnished additional incentive for the growth of the
Boxers. Their attitude became so threatening that in
November, 1898, the American and other ministers
asked for guards to protect the legations. They were
sent from the naval vessels at Tientsin, and remained
through the winter, when they were withdrawn. The
year 1899 was not marked by any serious outbreaks,
though the Boxers continued to extend their organiza-
tion and influence. But early in 1900 their movement
assumed a more aggressive character. In May the
foreign ministers addressed the Tsung-li Yamen asking
1 Martin's Siege, chaps, ii. and iii. ; China from Within, by S. P. Smith,
London, 1901, chaps, ii. and iii. ; 1 Smith's China, etc. chap. ix. ; Thomp-
son's China, 215 ; China's Only Hope, by Chang Chih-Tung, New York,
1900 ; U. S. For. Rel. 1898, pp. 219-221.
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 419
for their suppression, but the same month the railway
stations were attacked by them, and legation guards
were again hastily dispatched from Tientsin. Scarcely
had they arrived when the railway between that city
and Peking was seized by the Boxers June 4, and soon
thereafter all telegraphic communication with the cap-
ital ceased.
Events that startled the world followed swiftly. A
column of naval troops were marched overland to open
up communication with the legations, and military
forces were hurried forward from the American army
in the Philippines, and by the other treaty powers from
the nearest foreign posts. The Taku forts were occu-
pied by the allied forces after a few hours' bombard-
ment, — the American admiral declining, however, to
take part in it, as he held it to be an act of war, and
his instructions were to use his forces only for the pro-
tection of American interests ; but it proved to be a
wise military precaution, as the Chinese government
was then under the control of the Boxers, and its forces
were cooperating with them against the foreigners.
Tientsin was attacked by the Chinese troops in large
numbers, and the foreign residents were saved from
slaughter only by the timely arrival of the allied forces.
News came from Peking of the murder of the German
minister and the siege of the legations, succeeded by
frightful rumors of the extermination of the diplomatic
corps and all foreigners in the capital.
Then followed the repulse of the column sent to the I
relief of the legations, their long and heroic siege, the j
gathering of the allied army at Tientsin, its march to !
420 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
the capital, the deliverance of the besieged, and the
occupation of Peking. It is not possible to give a
detailed narrative these events, but it will illustrate the
inveterate and all-embracing hostility of the Chinese
to note the experience of two of the persons who un-
derwent the dangers and privations of the siege. Dr.
W. A. P. Martin, an American, and Sir Robert Hart,
an Englishman, had each spent more than fifty years in
China, the greater portion of this time in the service of
the Chinese government. Martin was a scholar of rare
attainments, who had translated various works on inter-
national law and kindred topics into Chinese, and for
many years had presided over the Imperial University.
He was pronounced by Minister Denby " the foremost
American in China." Sir Robert Hart had taken charge
of the Chinese customs service, brought order out of
confusion, supplanted wholesale corruption with strict
honesty and accountability ; had from insignificant pro-
portions made its resources largely support the govern-
ment and pay its foreign indebtedness ; and had been
the trusted and able adviser of the cabinet and the most
useful official in China. But when the storm broke
upon the capital the angry mob of Boxers and soldiers,
thirsting for the blood of the despised foreigner, as-
saulted, plundered, and burned to ashes the residences of
those two public servants, Martin and Hart escaping only
with their lives and the clothes on their backs to the
legation quarters. All their services to the government
counted as nothing with the infuriated demons.1
1 For military operations, Report of U. S. Secretary of Navy for 1900,
pp. 3, 1148 ; Lieutenant-General Commanding the Army of U. S. 1900,
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 421
In the massacres and plundering which attended the
uprising of 1900 it was manifest that the movement
was not against the Christians, or any other special
class, but against all foreigners and foreign things.
Missionaries, railroad constructors, merchants, teachers,
and diplomats were alike the victims, and foreign pro-
perty and foreign-made goods in the hands and shops
of Chinese were destroyed.
The evidence is also overwhelming that the empress I
dowager and the government - — as reconstructed after I
the displacement of the emperor in 1898 — were in i
sympathy with the Boxers, and that the government j
finally coalesced with them, and became responsible for I
the attack upon Tientsin and the siege of the legations. \
There is reason, however, to believe, that the emperor
did not approve of these acts, and there were instances
of heroic devotion to duty and the true interests of the
country on the part of some members of the Tsung-li
Yamen and other public men. /The native Christians
also, as a rule, proved true to their new faith, and
courageously supported their foreign friends in their
hour of trial.
(The dispatch of a division of the American army,
composed of all arms of the service and fully equipped
for a campaign, was one of the most extreme acts of
executive authority in the history of the United States.)
It has been seen that when the Secretary of State was
requested by the representatives of Great Britain and
pt. vii. ; ib. for 1901, pt. iv. p. 433 ; U. S. For. Rel. 1900, " China " ; Gen-
eral Wilson's China, chaps, xxii.-xxiv. Most of the works already cited
in this chapter contain narratives of the Boxer operations and the siege
of Peking.
422 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
France in 1857 to cooperate with them in an expedition
to Tientsin, he replied that, although the objects sought
to be gained by the United States were the same as
those entertained by the alhes^'the executive branch of
the government was not the war-making power,) and
that military expeditions into Chinese territory "could
not be undertaken without the authority of Congress.1
Doubtless that body would have been consulted by the
President had it been in session when the crisis came in
1900 ; but the emergency was great, and if the govern-
ment of the United States was to participate in the
relief of its minister and citizens besieged at Peking,
no time was to be lost. Duty, interest, and convenience
called for the immediate transfer to China of a portion
of the army then in the Philippines. The President
acted with commendable promptness, and the American
forces were enabled to bear an honorable part in the
campaign. The circumstances which called for the
action of 1900 were quite different from those attend-
ing the expedition of 1857. In the latter case it was a
deliberate act of war against the Chinese government.
In 1900 the American forces were sent to China to
protect American citizens and their interests in extreme
peril, at a time when the authority of the Chinese
government was suspended and unable to afford them
protection. There are many such precedents in Amer-
ican history, though none calling for such a display
I of military force. The approval which the President
I received from the people was an evidence that the situ-
ation justified his conduct.
1 Supra, p. 232.
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 423
The main object of the military operations of the
allies had been attained by the deliverance of the lega-
tions ; but it was manifest that the work of the powers
would not be complete until the causes which had
brought about the unparalleled outrage against the
comity of nations should be removed, and the necessary
precautions taken to prevent a recurrence of similar
violations in the future. The first step to that end
had been taken by the American Secretary of State,
Mr. Hay, soon after the gravity and extent of the
offense against international law and comity became
known. Qn July 3, 1900, Mr. Hajjjfcojigh^c /
note, communicated to the allied powers the views and |
intentions of the United States, so far as the circum-
stances at that date would permit. It was declared to i
be the purpose of its government to act concurrently
with the other powers in the rescue of the American
officials and citizens then in peril, and in the protection
of American life and property everywhere in China,
and, finally, to take measures to prevent a recurrence
of such disasters. In attaining this last result it would
be the policy of the United States to seek a solution
which might bring about permanent safety and peace
to China, /preserve its territorial and administrative
entity, protect all rights guaranteed by treaty and inter-
national law, and safeguard for the world the principle
of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chi-
nese Empire.
Although this policy was not in harmony with the
recent conduct of some of the European powers in their
relations with China, it was so fully consonant with the
/ %j*
424 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
principles of international justice that it met with the
approval of the intelligent public sentiment of the world.
Through the long and tedious negotiations which fol-
lowed, this policy was consistently adhered to by the
American representatives.
For several weeks no communication could be had
with the American minister, Mr. Conger, and it was
doubtful whether he would escape with his life ; the
Russian and Japanese forces were pouring into China
k in large numbers ; and the situation with respect to the
j allies and their attitude towards China was uncertain.
| In this critical period the President felt the need of a
representative in the midst of the scene of operations,
possessed of his views and in direct communication with
Washington. He therefore appointed as a special com-
missioner Mr. W. W. Rockhill, formerly secretary of
legation in China and lately assistant Secretary of State.
On his arrival at Shanghai the allied army was in occu-
pation of Peking, Mr. Conger had resumed his duties,
and was in free communication with his government.
After conferring with the viceroys of the Yang-tse-
Kiang provinces, Mr. Rockhill went to Peking and was
made counselor of the legation, while Mr. Conger was
in charge of the negotiations.
Before the siege of the legations had been raised, no-
tice was given that Li Hung Chang had been appointed
a plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace, and soon after
the occupation of the capital by the allies, Prince Ching
informed the representatives of the powers that " their
majesties the empress dowager and emperor having gone
westward on a tour," he had been nominated with Li
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS
425
Hung Chang " to open negotiations in a harmonious
way at an early date to the interest and gratification of
all concerned.' ' Li, however, was slow in arriving at
Peking, and it was not until October 26 that the pleni-
potentiaries of the powers and of China met and the
formal negotiations were begun.
Meanwhile four important declarations had been
made which had done much to bring the powers into
cordial relations, removing suspicion and anxiety as to
the possible action of any one power. Of these, first
in date and importance was the circular note of Secre-
tary Hay of July 3. The next in order was the an-
nouncement, August 28, of Russia, that it had " no
designs of territorial acquisitions in China," and that,
since the Chinese government had left Peking, there
was no need for its representative to remain, that its
troops would be withdrawn, and that when the Chinese
government was reestablished Russia would appoint a
representative to negotiate with it. To this announce-
ment, which was in the shape of a proposal, the United
States replied that it did not deem it wise for the troops
to be withdrawn until there was a general agreement
by the powers.
The third was the proposal made, September 18, by]
Germany, that, as a preliminary to peace, China should:
surrender to the allies for punishment the leaders of the
anti-foreign movement who should be designated by
the foreign ministers. The reply of the United States
was that it would be far more effective for the future if;
the Chinese government would punish the guilty, that
it was but just to give China in the first instance this
W^
426 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
opportunity to exhibit her justice and intentions, and
that the subject could be included in the negotiations
if afterwards found necessary. It may be remarked, in
this connection, that the United States took no part in
the punitive expeditions by the forces of some of the
European powers conducted soon after the capture of
* Peking.
Fourthly, one other important event was announced
in the agreement of Great Britain and Germany, of
October 16, (1) to preserve " the open door " in trade,
and (2) to take no advantage of the existing condi-
tions to acquire territory ; but (3) reserving the right
to take another course if any other power attempted to
violate the first two policies. Secretary Hay, when re-
quested to signify his acceptance of these principles,
i replied that his government, in the note of July 3, had
already announced the adoption of the first two, and
that as the third related to a reciprocal arrangement
^between the two contracting parties, the United States
did not regard itself as called upon to express an opin-
ion upon it.
Before the first formal meeting was held, France
submitted as a basis of negotiations six propositions,
which were substantially agreed upon by the powers,
and briefly stated were as follows : Punishment of the
principal guilty parties ; prohibition of the importation
of firearms ; indemnity for losses ; permanent legation
guards ; dismantling of the Taku forts ; and estab-
l lishment of foreign military posts between Peking and
' the sea.
These declarations and papers had made the task of
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 427
concurrence in the general principles by the represent-*
atives of the powers a comparatively easy one, anot
within less than one month they reached an agreement
on the essential provisions to be embodied in a treaty,
but some delay occurred in reconciling minor differ-
ences and consulting the home governments. A ques-
tion arose as to the form in which the demands agreed
upon should be submitted to the Chinese plenipoten-
tiaries, whether in separate identic notes, or in a joint
note signed by the representatives of all the powers.
Although the United States does not ordinarily favor
joint action with European powers, Mr. Conger advo-
cated a joint note on the ground that the question was
world-wide, that the demands should be strengthened by
unanimity, and that it would hasten final settlement by
being more effective than identic notes ; and that course
was pursued, and the note, signed by all the represent-
atives, was delivered to the Chinese plenipotentiaries
December 24, and by them forwarded to the court with
their recommendation of the acceptance of its terms.
The note contained twelve demands, which may be
divided into the four heads : (1) punishment of the
guilty ; (2) preventive measures for the future ; (3) in-
demnification ; and (4) improvement of official and
commercial relations. On January 16, in obedience to
an imperial edict, the Chinese plenipotentiaries gave
notice of their acceptance of the twelve demands, but I
accompanied it with a series of questions and sugges-
tions looking to some modifications of the details.
Mr. Conger had conducted the negotiations on the
part of the United States to a successful conclusion on
428 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
all the essential questions involved, and as the discus-
sion of the details bid fair to occupy much time, he was
granted by the government a leave of absence from his
post to visit the United States. He had well earned
a season of rest. He had conducted himself during
the trying ordeal of the siege with great fortitude and
discretion, and in the negotiations he had labored in-
defatigably and with a good degree of success to im-
press upon his colleagues the liberal and reasonable
attitude of his government. During his stay in the
United States he received such marks of favor as
indicated that his services were highly appreciated by
his countrymen.
By appointment of the President, Mr. Kockhill suc-
ceeded to the conduct of the negotiations on the part
of the United States. The two most important points
yet remaining for adjustment were the punishments to
be inflicted upon the leaders in the anti-foreign move-
ment, and the amount and manner of payment of the
indemnities. While the negotiations were in progress
the Chinese government, under the urgent representa-
tions of the foreign ministers, had condemned a num-
ber of high officials, some of whom had been permitted
to commit suicide, and others had been banished or de-
\ graded. But the ministers were not satisfied with the
I sufficiency of this action, and they prepared a list of
I ten other officials whose execution was to be demanded,
and about one hundred more to be otherwise punished.
\The Russian minister objected to the list, and Mr.
fRockhill strongly seconded him, declaring that the
effusion of blood should cease, after the chief culprits
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 429
had been punished, and that no more death penalties
should be exacted. Through their influence, and that
of the Japanese minister, the death penalties were con-J
fined to four others, and lesser punishments applied]
to about fifty.
The question of indemnity was even more difficult
of settlement than that of punishments, for in it a mea-
sure of cupidity was added to the natural feelings of
vengeance. From the beginning the United States
had favored a lump sum, in place of filing itemized in-
dividual and governmental claims, as the latter would
enormously increase the aggregate amount. It wasl
with difficulty and after much delay that this point was{
gained ; and then the amount of this lump sum wasl
a still more debated question. Sir Robert Hart, who
was advising both the Chinese and the allies, stated
that China could not pay more than $250,000,000 to
$300,000,000. Mr. Rockhill proposed that the lump
sum should not exceed China's ability to pay, and
that the powers would scale down their claims to that
amount ; that it should be divided equitably among the
powers ; and that if they could not agree among them-
selves to an apportionment, that question should be sub-
mitted to the Hague Tribunal. These propositions did
not meet with approval, Russia and Japan only agreeing
to the reference to The Hague, and Japan alone sup-
porting the scaling down of the claims. This action
was the more significant in view of the fact that of the
five powers principally involved, the claim of the United
States was the lowest, and that of Japan next.
The amount of the indemnity to be paid by China
430 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
| was finally fixed at 450,000,000 taels, payable in gold
lat the rate of exchange fixed in the protocol, with in-
jfcerest at four per centum, in annual payments covering
Jthirty-nine years.1
The negotiations on the details had dragged along
through weary months and the protocol or peace agree-
ment was not signed by the representatives of the
powers and the Chinese plenipotentiaries till September
7, 1901. In addition to the subject of the punish-
ments and indemnity above noticed, the following were
its most important provisions : A special embassy to be
sent to Germany to convey to the emperor the regret
of the Chinese government for the death of Baron von
Ketteler, the German minister, and a monument with
appropriate inscription to be erected by China on the
spot of his assassination ; similar action respecting the
assassination of the chancellor of the Japanese lega-
tion ; the suspension of official examinations for five
1 The claims of the various governments were as follows : —
Country. Taels.
Germany 90,070,515
Austria-Hungary 4,003,920
Belgium 8,484,345
Spain 135,315
United States *32,939,055
France 70,878,240
Portugal 92,250
Great Britain 50,712,795
Italy 26,617,005
Japan 34,793,100
Netherlands 782,100
Russia 130,371,120
International (Sweden and Norway, $62,820) 212,490
450,000,000
* The equivalent of $24,168,357.
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 431
years in all the cities where foreigners were massacred
or cruelly treated; the erection by China of expiatory
monuments in all foreign cemeteries which had been
desecrated ; prohibition of the importation of firearms']
for two years ; a quarter of Peking set aside for the I
legations, with the right to maintain foreign guards ; the \
Taku forts to be razed ; certain points, named, between
the capital and the sea to be occupied by foreign
troops; the death penalty to be inflicted on all who
become members of anti-foreign societies ; viceroys and
all subordinate officials to be dismissed where anti-for-
eign riots occur and the authors are not punished ; new
treaties of commerce to be negotiated, and the river
navigation to Tientsin and Shanghai to be improved ;
the Tsung-li-Yamen abolished and succeeded by a new
board, the Wai-wu Pu, which should take precedence/
over the other ministries ; and a court ceremonial agreed
upon in conformity with Western usage.1
The influence of the United States was plainly
noticeable throughout the negotiations, especially in re-
straining radical measures and in modifying the action
respecting the indemnities. While it supported the
efforts to punish the really guilty leaders, and was firm in
demanding measures which would guarantee the protec-
tion of American citizens and interests for the future,
1 For negotiations, U. S. For. Rel. 1900, pp. 285-382 ; Rockhill's Re-
port, S. Ex. Doc. 67, 57th Cong. 1st Sess., published also as appendix to
For. Rel. 1901 ; Secretary Hay's note, July 3, 1900, Rockhill's Report,
12 ; Russia's announcement, Aug. 28, ib. 19 ; German note, Sept. 18, ib.
23 ; British-German agreement, Oct. 16, ib. 31 ; French basis of negotia-
tions, Oct. 4, ib. 26 ; joint note of powers, Dec. 22, ib. 59 ; statement of
indemnities, ib. 225 ; final protocol, ib. 312.
432 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
it manifested anxiety that nothing should be done to
cripple or impede the ability of China in the mainte-
nance of a stable government and its territorial integ-
rity. Hence it was necessary to continue in the concert
of the powers and as far as possible control their action
to that end.
Its success in bringing about an agreement for a
lump sum for indemnities, to be apportioned among the
nations, was of vast importance. If each power had
acted separately respecting the indemnities, the one pos-
sible method other than a loan, which would have im-
posed foreign management of the revenues, would have
been the occupation of sections of territory by the
powers, each one utilizing its own sphere as a source
of revenue in payment of claims. This condition once
inaugurated would have been difficult to change.
In 1899, just before the Boxer outbreak, Secretary
Hay, fearing the effects which might result to Amer-
ican commerce from the apparent intention of certain
European powers to appropriate Chinese territory at
will, or to extend over it their " spheres of influence,"
addressed the governments of Great Britain, Germany,
Kussia, France, Italy, and Japan, urging that it was to
the interest of the world's commerce that the govern-
ment of China should be strengthened and its integrity
maintained, and submitting for their assent certain prin-
ciples which should be respected in that territory,
(whereby that populous empire should remain an open
market for the world. These principles were accepted
. by all the governments named, and the American Secre-
tary received deserved credit among all nations for his
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 433
firm and timely action.1 Doubtless he foresaw during
the negotiations that unless the powers could be held
to joint action in accepting the lump sum in settlement
of their indemnity claims, his policy of the "open door"
would have been placed in peril.
Since the protocol was signed, the United States has
had another opportunity of showing its consideration
for China in her humiliation and financial distress.
During the year 1902 the first installment on the in-
demnities was to be paid. But since the basis of settle-1
ment was agreed upon, silver, which is the currency of
China, has greatly fallen in value, making it much
more onerous to meet the obligation. China appealed
to the powers to allow the installment to be paid at the
rate of exchange when the settlement was made, and
the United States is the only power which has mani-
fested a willingness to grant the appeal.
The conditions imposed upon China in the peace pro-
tocol would seem to be adequate to prevent any wide-
spread anti-foreign uprisings in the future. But the)
hatred of the stranger still prevails throughout the em-?
pire, and the extortionate spirit of the powers has placed
in the protocol a provision which is likely to prove a\
continued source of irritation and to feed the flames of
discontent. Against the remonstrance of the United
States and of those best informed as to the financial
ability of China, a burden of indemnity has been placed
upon the government which it will be very difficult
for it to carry. To meet this obligation additional
taxes must be laid upon the people, and the knowledge
1 H. Ex. Doc. 547, 56th Cong. 1st Sess.
434 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
that this imposition is for the benefit of the despised
foreigner may lead to disorder and repudiation ; and
I repudiation will raise again the question of Chinese
j autonomy.
So long as race hatred controls the Chinese people
the peace of the world will be in danger, as the destiny
of that country is intimately connected with the inter-
ests of all the great powers of the earth; and, since the
acquisition of the Philippines, not less with the United
States than the most interested of other nations. The
" yellow peril " has been much discussed by writers and
statesmen who have studied the problems of the Far
East. Since the Japanese war and the recent easy
march of the allied forces to Peking, the tendency has
been to decry and scout the danger. But it is scarcely
•an exaggeration, in presence of its history and attain-
ments, to assert that no nation or race of ancient or
modern times has stronger claim than the Chinese to be
; called a great people. The fact that the United States
has been compelled to violate its early traditions and
much vaunted principles in the exclusion of the Chi-
\ nese from competition with its own people is a high
\ testimony to their race capacity and endurance.
/ Wensiang, the wisest and most farseeing Chinese
/statesman of modern times, was accustomed to say to
foreign diplomats and others who urged speedy re-
forms : " You are all too anxious to awake us and start
us on a new road, and you will do it ; but you will all
regret it, for, once awaking and started, we shall go
fast and far, — farther than you think, much faster
\ than you want." Sir Robert Hart, who has made a
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS
435
study of Chinese character and capacity for a half cen-
tury, believes that their hatred of foreigners is a real
menace to the world, not in this generation, perhaps,
but in the early future as the lifetime of nations is mea-
sured. Four hundred millions, sturdy and passionately
devoted to their ancient customs, might in time, un-
der the influence of an all-prevailing race hatred, be
changed from a peace-loving community into a warlike
people, bent upon avenging their wrongs. Sir Robert
suggests only two remedies for this impending danger.
The first is partition of the empire among the great
powers, which he regards as full of difficulties; the
second, a miraculous spread of Christianity, " a not im-
possible, but scarcely to be hoped for, religious triumph
. . . which would convert China into the friendliest of
friendly powers." *
But the review in this volume of the diplomatic rela-
tions of the Orient has shown that another local power
is to be reckoned with in considering the Asiatic ques-
tion. Japan's wonderful development in industrial
affairs is even more remarkable than its display of mil-
itary power. Marquis Ito in a late publication, after |
arraying the statistics as to his country's great increase
in its mercantile marine, its manufactures, and its for- (
eign commerce, justly claims that Japan has attained a
secure position commercially, and that " she appreciates
the achievements of peace as thoroughly as achieve-
ments by force of arms." The fact that it has within
the last few years advanced to the second place in the
trade with China evinces its commercial activity. The
1 Sir Robert Hart's Essays, 64-65.
^~?
436 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
estimate of Japanese statesmen of the part their coun-
try is to play in world politics may be seen from the
utterance of Count Okuma, former prime minister,
anticipating the revision of the treaties and the triumph
over China, — " We should become one of the chief
powers of the world, and no power could engage in
any movement [in Asia] without first consulting us."
Such language hardly appears exaggerated, in view of
the late treaty of alliance between Great Britain and
\ Japan.1
The power most greatly feared by China and Japan,
and the one whose vast territorial possessions in Asia
entitle it to the first consideration in the affairs of that
continent, is Russia. Its system of government is the
antipodes of that of the United States and its repres-
sion of missions is out of harmony with the hopes of a
large majority of the American people, but in their
political relations the two governments have always
maintained a cordial friendship, and if the principle of
the " open door " is respected, there does not appear to
be any reason why in Asiatic affairs they should not
* so continue.
The other great power in the Pacific whose policy
is of concern to the United States is Great Britain.
There has been occasion in these pages to animadvert
upon the conduct of its government, but it is due to it
to say that, however dictatorial and aggressive has
been its course towards the Eastern countries, it has
reserved to itself no selfish or exclusive privileges, but
1 The Commercial Future of Japan, by Marquis Ito, N. Y. Independ-
ent, February 20, 1902 ; Norman's Far East, 392.
L>
THE SPANISH WAR: ITS RESULTS 437
has extended to all other nations the right of trade
and residence gained for its own subjects.) Wherever
in the Orient its authority has gone there has been in-
troduced impartial administration of justice and honest
taxation, conditions unknown under native government ;
and the influence of its administration is to elevate
the intellectual condition and the morals of the people.
With a similarity of institutions, a common origin and
language, and a community of trade interest in the
East, the two governments are naturally inclined to
cooperation. Neither do the Americans forget that
when the other European powers were indifferent or
unfriendly during the war that transferred the Philip-
pines to the United States, Great Britain alone was!
outspoken in its sympathy, and looked with compla-
cency upon the enlargement of Anglo-Saxon influence
in that quarter of the globe. A political alliance of
the two nations in Asiatic affairs is not probable, but
they are likely to be found working together to main- j
tain that which is of vital importance to the Unitedf
States, free markets in those countries.
Mr. Seward's prophecy of the growing importance
of the Pacific and of America's expansion to those dis-
tant regions has become history much sooner than he
or any American statesman foresaw. It has brought
with it much governmental embarrassment and great
responsibilities. But the hopeful citizen must believe
that the system of government and the wisdom of its
public men will be equal to the emergency and the
responsibilities. It is a matter of pride and of con-
fidence for the future to be assured that the conduct
438 AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT
and policy of the government, from the beginning of
its history, in its relations with the Orient have been
marked by a spirit of justice, forbearance, and magna-
nimity. Its early and its later intercourse with China,
Japan, and Korea has been that of a friend interested
for their welfare, ready to aid them in their efforts to
attain an honorable place among the nations, and will-
ing to recognize the embarrassments which attended
those efforts.
With the acquisition of the Philippines, whether
wisely or unwisely done, the United States has assumed
towards those countries the new and additional relation
of a neighbor. The enormous development of the
resources of the United States and the increased neces-
sity for foreign markets have strengthened the reasons
which have controlled its policy in the past, and the
proximity of its new possessions, with their millions of
inhabitants, has brought it nearer than ever in sym-
pathy to these peoples and their governments. The
American Union has become an Asiatic power. It has
new duties to discharge and enlarged interests to pro-
tect. But its record of a hundred years of honorable
intercourse with that region will be a safe guide for the
conduct of affairs. Its task will be well done if it shall
aid in giving to the world a freer market, and to the
inhabitants of the Orient the blessings of Christian
civilization.
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
A PROTOCOL BETWEEN CHINA AND THE TREATY
POWERS, SEPTEMBER 7, 1901.
The plenipotentiaries of Germany, His Excellency M. A. Munn
von Sch war zen stein ; of Austria-Hungary, His Excellency M. M.
Czikann von Wahlborn ; of Belgium, His Excellency M. Joostens ;
of Spain, M. B. J. de Cologan ; of the United States, His Excellency
M. W. W. Rockhill ; of France, His Excellency M. Paul Beau ; of
Great Britain, His Excellency Sir Ernest Satow ; of Italy, Marquis
Salvago Raggi ; of Japan, His Excellency M. Jutaro Komura ; of
the Netherlands, His Excellency M. F. M. Knobel ; of Russia, His
Excellency M. M. de Giers ; and of China, His Highness Yi-K'uang
Prince Ching of the first rank, President of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and His Excellency Li Hung-chang, Earl of Su-i of the first
rank, Tutor of the Heir Apparent, Grand Secretary of the Wen-hua
Throne Hall, Minister of commerce, Superintendent of the northern
trade, Governor-General of Chihli, have met for the purpose of
declaring that China has complied to the satisfaction of the Powers
with the conditions laid down in the note of the 22d of December,
1900, and which were accepted in their entirety by His Majesty the
Emperor of China in a decree dated the 27th of December.
Article Ia.
By an Imperial Edict of the 9th of June last, Tsai Feng, Prince
of Ch'un, was appointed Ambassador of His Majesty the Emperor
of China, and directed in that capacity to convey to His Majesty the
German Emperor the expression of the regrets of His Majesty the
Emperor of China and of the Chinese Government for the assassina-
442 APPENDIX
tion of His Excellency the late Baron von Ketteler, German min-
ister.
Prince Ch'tin left Peking the 12th of July last to carry out the
orders which had been given him.
Article Ib.
The Chinese Government has stated that it will erect on the spot
of the assassination of His Excellency the late Baron von Ketteler a
commemorative monument, worthy of the rank of the deceased, and
bearing an inscription in the Latin, German, and Chinese languages,
which shall express the regrets of His Majesty the Emperor of China
for the murder committed.
Their Excellencies the Chinese Plenipotentiaries have informed
His Excellency the German Plenipotentiary, in a letter dated the
22d of July last, that an arch of the whole width of the street
would be erected on the said spot, and that work on it was begun
the 25th of June last.
Article IP.
Imperial Edicts of the 13th and 21st of February, 1901, inflicted
the following punishments on the principal authors of the outrages
and crimes committed against the foreign Governments and their
nationals :
Tsai-I Prince Tuan and Tsai Lan Duke Fu-kuo were sentenced
to be brought before the autumnal court of assize for execution, and
it was agreed that if the Emperor saw fit to grant them their lives,
they should be exiled to Turkestan and there imprisoned for life,
without the possibility of commutation of these punishments.
Tsai Hsiin Prince Chuang, Ying Nien, President of the Court of
censors, and Chao Shu-Chiao, President of the Board of punish-
ments, were condemned to commit suicide.
Yu Hsien, Governor of Shanhsi, Chi Hsiu, President of the Board
of rites, and Hsu Cheng-yu, formerly senior vice-President of the
Board of punishments, were condemned to death.
Posthumous degradation was inflicted on Kang Yi, assistant Grand
Secretary, President of the Board of works, Hsu Tung, Grand Secre-
tary, and Li Ping-heng, formerly Governor-General of Szu-ch'uan.
APPENDIX 443
An Imperial Edict of February 13th, 1901, rehabilitated the
memories of Hsu Yung-yi, President of the Board of war, Li Shan,
President of the Board of works, Hsu Ching-cheng, senior vice-
President of the Board of works, Lien Yuan, vice-Chancellor of the
Grand Council, and Yuan Chang, vice-President of the Court of
sacrifices, who had been put to death for having protested against
the outrageous breaches of international law of last year.
Prince Chuang committed suicide the 21st of February, 1901,
Ying Nien and Chao Shu-chiao the 24th, Yu Hsien was executed the
22d, Chi Hsiu and Hsu Cheng-yu on the 26th. Tung Fu-hsiang,
General in Kan-su, has been deprived of his office by Imperial Edict
of the 13th of February, 1901, pending the determination of the
final punishment to be inflicted on him.
Imperial Edicts dated the 29th of April and 19th of August,
1901, have inflicted various punishments on the provincial officials
convicted of the crimes and outrages of last summer.
Article IP.
An Imperial Edict promulgated the 19th of August, 1901, ordered
the suspension of official examinations for five years in all cities
where foreigners were massacred or submitted to cruel treatment.
Article III.
So as to make honorable reparation for the assassination of Mr.
Sugiyama, chancellor of the Japanese legation, His Majesty the
Emperor of China by an Imperial Edict of the 18th of June, 1901,
appointed Na Tung, vice-President of the Board of revenue, to be
his Envoy Extraordinary, and specially directed him to convey to
His Majesty the Emperor of Japan the expression of the regrets of
His Majesty the Emperor of China and of his Government at the
assassination of the late Mr. Sugiyama.
Article IV.
The Chinese Government has agreed to erect an expiatory monu-
ment in each of the foreign or international cemeteries which were
desecrated and in which the tombs were destroyed.
It has been agreed with the Representatives of the Powers that
444 APPENDIX
the legations interested shall settle the details for the erection of
these monuments, China bearing all the expenses thereof, estimated
at ten thousand taels for the cemeteries at Peking and within its
neighborhood, and at five thousand taels for the cemeteries in the
provinces. The amounts have been paid and the list of these
cemeteries is enclosed herewith.
Article V.
China has agreed to prohibit the importation into its territory of
arms and ammunition, as well as of materials exclusively used for
the manufacture of arms and ammunition.
An Imperial Edict has been issued on the 25th of August, 1901,
forbidding said importation for a term of two years. New Edicts
may be issued subsequently extending this by other successive terms
of two years in case of necessity recognized by the Powers.
Article VI.
By an Imperial Edict dated the 29th of May, 1901, His Majesty
the Emperor of China agreed to pay the Powers an indemnity of
four hundred and fifty millions of Haikwan Taels. This sum repre-
sents the total amount of the indemnities for States, companies or
societies, private individuals, and Chinese referred to in Article VI
of the note of December 22d, 1900.
(a) These four hundred and fifty millions constitute a gold debt
calculated at the rate of the Haikwan tael to the gold currency of
each country, as indicated below.
Haikwan tael = marks 3.055
= Austro-Hungary crown 3.595
= gold dollar 0.742
= francs 3750
= pound sterling 3s. Od.
= yen 1.407
= Netherlands florin . . . . . . . 1.796
= gold rouble (17.424 dolias fine) .... 1.412
This sum in gold shall bear interest at 4 per cent, per annum, and
the capital shall be reimbursed by China in thirty-nine years in the
manner indicated in the annexed plan of amortization.
APPENDIX 445
Capital and interest shall be payable in gold or at the rates of
exchange corresponding to the dates at which the different payments
fall due.
The amortization shall commence the 1st of January, 1902, and
shall finish at the end of the year 1940. The amortizations are
payable annually, the first payment being fixed on the 1st of Janu-
ary, 1903.
Interest shall run from the 1st of July, 1901, but the Chinese
Government shall have the right to pay off within a term of three
years, beginning January, 1902, the arrears of the first six months,
ending the 31st of December, 1901, on condition, however, that it
pays compound interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum on the
sums the payments of which shall have thus been deferred. In-
terest shall be payable semiannually, the first payment being fixed
on the 1st of July, 1902.
(b) The service of the debt shall take place in Shanghai, in the
following manner :
Each Power shall be represented by a delegate on a commission
of bankers authorized to receive the amount of interest and amorti-
zation which shall be paid to it by the Chinese authorities desig-
nated for that purpose, to divide it among the interested parties, and
to give a receipt for the same.
(c) The Chinese Government shall deliver to the Doyen of the
Diplomatic Corps at Peking a bond for the lump sum, which shall
subsequently be converted into fractional bonds bearing the signa-
tures of the delegates of the Chinese Government designated for
that purpose. This operation and all those relating to issuing of
the bonds shall be performed by the above-mentioned Commission,
in accordance with the instructions which the Powers shall send
their delegates.
(d) The proceeds of the revenues assigned to the payment of the
bonds shall be paid monthly to the Commission.
(e) The revenues assigned as security for the bonds are the fol-
lowing :
1. The balance of the revenues of the Imperial maritime Customs
after payment of the interest and amortization of preceding loans
secured on these revenues, plus the proceeds of the raising to five
446 APPENDIX
per cent, effective of the present tariff on maritime imports, includ-
ing articles until now on the free list, but exempting foreign rice,
cereals, and flour, gold and silver bullion and coin.
2. The revenues of the native customs, administered in the open
ports by the Imperial maritime Customs.
3. The total revenues of the salt gabelle, exclusive of the fraction
previously set aside for other foreign loans.
The raising of the present tariff on imports to five per cent, effec-
tive is agreed to on the conditions mentioned below.
It shall be put in force two months after the signing of the
present protocol, and no exceptions shall be made except for mer-
chandise shipped not more than ten days after the said signing.
1°. All duties levied on imports " ad valorem " shall be converted
as far as possible and as soon as may be into specific duties. This
conversion shall be made in the following manner: The average
value of merchandise at the time of their landing during the three
years 1897, 1898, and 1899, that is to say, the market price less the
amount of import duties and incidental expenses, shall be taken as
the basis for the valuation of merchandise. Pending the result of
the work of conversion, duties shall be levied " ad valorem."
2°. The beds of the rivers Peiho and Whangpu shall be improved
with the financial participation of China.
Article VII.
The Chinese Government has agreed that the quarter occupied by
the legations shall be considered as one specially reserved for their
use and placed under their exclusive control, in which Chinese shall
not have the right to reside, and which may be made defensible.
The limits of this quarter have been fixed as follows on the an-
nexed plan :
On the west, the line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
On the north, the line 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
On the east, Ketteler street (10, 11, 12).
Drawn along the exterior base of the Tartar wall and following
the line of the bastions, on the south the line 12.1.
In the protocol annexed to the letter of the 16th of January,
1901, China recognized the right of each Power to maintain a per-
manent guard in the said quarter for the defense of its legation.
APPENDIX 447
Article VIII.
The Chinese Government has consented to raze the forts of Taku
and those which might impede free communication between Peking
and the sea ; steps have been taken for carrying this out.
Article IX.
The Chinese Government has conceded the right to the Powers
in the protocol annexed to the letter of the 16th of January, 1901,
to occupy certain points, to be determined by an agreement between
them, for the maintenance of open communication between the cap-
ital and the sea. The points occupied by the Powers are :
Huang-tsun, Lang-fang, Yang-tsun, Tientsin, Chun-liang Ch'eng,
Tang-ku, Lu-tai, Tang-shan, Lan-chou, Chang-li, Ch'in-wang tao,
Shan-hai kuan.
Article X.
The Chinese Government has agreed to post and to have pub-
lished during two years in all district cities the following Imperial
edicts :
(a) Edict of the 1st of February, prohibiting forever, under pain
of death, membership in any antiforeign society.
(b) Edicts of the 13th and 21st February, 29th April, and 19th
August, enumerating the punishments inflicted on the guilty.
(c) Edict of the 19th August, 1901, prohibiting examinations in
all cities where foreigners were massacred or subjected to cruel
treatment.
(d) Edict of the 1st of February, 1901, declaring all governors-
general, governors, and provincial or local officials responsible for
order in their respective districts, and that in case of new anti-
foreign troubles or other infractions of the treaties which shall not
be immediately repressed, and the authors of which shall not have
been punished, these officials shall be immediately dismissed, with-
out possibility of being given new functions or new honors.
The posting of these edicts is being carried on throughout the
Empire.
Article XI.
The Chinese Government has agreed to negotiate the amend-
ments deemed necessary by the foreign Governments to the treaties
448 APPENDIX
of commerce and navigation and the other subjects concerning com-
mercial relations, with the object of facilitating them.
At present, and as a result of the stipulation contained in Article
VI concerning the indemnity, the Chinese Government agrees to
assist in the improvement of the courses of the rivers Peiho and
Whangpu, as stated below.
(a) The works for the improvement of the navigability of the
Peiho, begun in 1898, with the cooperation of the Chinese Govern-
ment, have been resumed under the direction of an international
Commission. As soon as the administration of Tientsin shall have
been handed back to the Chinese Government, it will be in a posi-
tion to be represented on this Commission, and will pay each year a
sum of sixty thousand Haikwan taels for maintaining the works.
(b) A conservancy Board, charged with the management and
control of the works for straightening the Whangpu and the im-
provement of the course of that river, is hereby created.
This Board shall consist of members representing the interests of
the Chinese Government and those of foreigners in the shipping
trade of Shanghai. The expenses incurred for the works and the
general management of the undertaking are estimated at the annual
sum of four hundred and sixty thousand Haikwan taels for the first
twenty years. This sum shall be supplied in equal portions by the
Chinese Government and the foreign interests concerned. Detailed
stipulations concerning the composition, duties, and revenues of the
conservancy Board are embodied in annex hereto.
Article XII.
An Imperial Edict of the 24th of July, 1901, reformed the Office
of foreign affairs (Tsungli Yamen), on the lines indicated by the
Powers, that is to say, transformed it into a Ministry of foreign
affairs (Wai-wu Pu), which takes precedence over the six other
Ministries of the State. The same edict appointed the principal
members of this Ministry.
An agreement has also been reached concerning the modification
of Court ceremonial as regards the reception of foreign Representa-
tives and has been the subject of several notes from the Chinese
Plenipotentiaries, the substance of which is embodied in a memo-
randum herewith annexed.
APPENDIX 449
Finally, it is expressly understood that as regards the declara-
tions specified above and the annexed documents originating with
the foreign Plenipotentiaries, the French text only is authoritative.
The Chinese Government having thus complied to the satisfaction
of the Powers with the conditions laid down in the above-mentioned
note of December 22d, 1900, the Powers have agreed to accede to
the wish of China to terminate the situation created by the disorders
of the summer of 1900. In consequence thereof the foreign Pleni-
potentiaries are authorized to declare in the names of their Govern-
ments that, with the exception of the legation guards mentioned in
Article VII, the international troops will completely evacuate the
city of Peking on the 17th September, 1901, and, with the excep-
tion of the localities mentioned in Article IX, will withdraw from
the province of Chihli on the 22d of September.
The present final Protocol has been drawn up in twelve identic
copies and signed by all the Plenipotentiaries of the Contracting
Countries. One copy shall be given to each of the foreign Plenipo-
tentiaries, and one copy shall be given to the Chinese Plenipoten-
tiaries.
Peking, 7th September, 1901.
A. V. Mumm.
M. CziKANN.
JOOSTENS. r .,.
t, T r\ Signatures
B. J. DE COLOGAN.
W. W. ROCKHILL.
Beau.
Ernest Satow.
Salvago Raggi.
jutaro komura.
F. M. Knobel.
M. DE GlERS.
and
seals
of
Chinese
Plenipotentiaries.
450 APPENDIX
B. THE EMIGRATION TREATY BETWEEN CHINA AND
THE UNITED STATES, 1894.
Signed March 17, 1894 ; Proclaimed December 8, 1894-
Whereas, on the 17th day of November, a. d. 1880, and of
Kwanghsii, the sixth year, tenth moon, fifteenth day, a Treaty was
concluded between the United States and China for the purpose of
regulating, limiting, or suspending the coming of Chinese laborers
to, and their residence in, the United States ;
And whereas the Government of China, in view of the antagonism
and much deprecated and serious disorders to which the presence
of Chinese laborers has given rise in certain parts of the United
States, desires to prohibit the emigration of such laborers from
China to the United States ;
And whereas the two Governments desire to cooperate in pro-
hibiting such emigration, and to strengthen in other ways the bonds
of friendship between the two countries ;
And whereas the two Governments are desirous of adopting recip-
rocal measures for the better protection of the citizens or subjects
of each within the jurisdiction of the other ;
Now, therefore, the President of the United States has appointed
Walter Q. Gresham, Secretary of State of the United States, as his
Plenipotentiary, and His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of China
has appointed Yang Yil, Officer of the second rank, Sub-Director of
the Court of Sacrificial Worship, and Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, as his
Plenipotentiary ; and the said Plenipotentiaries having exhibited
their respective Full Powers found to be in due and good form, have
agreed upon the following articles :
Article I.
The High Contracting Parties agree that for a period of ten years,
beginning with the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this
Convention, the coming, except under the conditions hereinafter
specified, of Chinese laborers to the United States shall be absolutely
prohibited.
APPENDIX 451
Article II.
The preceding Article shall not apply to the return to the United
States of any registered Chinese laborer who has a lawful wife,
child, or parent in the United States, or property therein of the
value of one thousand dollars, or debts of like amount due him and
pending settlement. Nevertheless every such Chinese laborer shall,
before leaving the United States, deposit, as a condition of his
return, with the collector of customs of the district from which he
departs, a full description in writing of his family, or property, or
debts, as aforesaid, and shall be furnished by said collector with
such certificate of his right to return under this Treaty as the laws
of the United States may now or hereafter prescribe and not incon-
sistent with the provisions of this Treaty ; and should the written
description aforesaid be proved to be false, the right of return there-
under, or of continued residence after return, shall in each case be
forfeited. And such right of return to the United States shall be
exercised within one year from the date of leaving the United
States ; but such right of return to the United States may be ex-
tended for an additional period, not to exceed one year, in cases
where by reason of sickness or other cause of disability beyond his
control, such Chinese laborer shall be rendered unable sooner to
return — which facts shall be fully reported to the Chinese consul at
the port of departure, and by him certified, to the satisfaction of the
collector of the port at which such Chinese subject shall land in the
United States. And no such Chinese laborer shall be permitted to
enter the United States by land or sea without producing to the
proper officer of the customs the return certificate herein required.
Article III.
The provisions of this Convention shall not affect the right at
present enjoyed of Chinese subjects, being officials, teachers, stu-
dents, merchants or travelers, for curiosity or pleasure, but not
laborers, of coming to the United States and residing therein. To
entitle such Chinese subjects as are above described to admission
into the United States, they may produce a certificate from their
Government or the Government where they last resided vise'd by
452 APPENDIX
the diplomatic or consular representative of the United States in the
country or port whence they depart.
It is also agreed that Chinese laborers shall continue to enjoy the
privilege of transit across the territory of the United States in the
course of their journey to or from other countries, subject to such
regulations by the Government of the United States as may be
necessary to prevent said privilege of transit from being abused.
Article IV.
In pursuance of Article III of the Immigration Treaty between
the United States and China, signed at Peking on the 17th day of
November, 1880 (the 15th day of the tenth month of Kwanghsil,
sixth year), it is hereby understood and agreed that Chinese laborers
or Chinese of any other class, either permanently or temporarily
residing in the United States, shall have for the protection of their
persons and property all rights that are given by the laws of the
United States to citizens of the most favored nation, excepting the
right to become naturalized citizens. And the Government of the
United States reaffirms its obligation, as stated in said Article III,
to exert all its power to secure protection to the persons and pro-
perty of all Chinese subjects in the United States.
Article V.
The Government of the United States, having by an Act of the
Congress, approved May 5, 1892, as amended by an Act approved
November 3, 1893, required all Chinese laborers lawfully within
the limits of the United States before the passage of the first named
Act to be registered as in said Acts provided, with a view of afford-
ing them better protection, the Chinese Government will not object
to the enforcement of such acts, and reciprocally the Government
of the United States recognizes the right of the Government of
China to enact and enforce similar laws or regulations for the regis-
tration, free of charge, of all laborers, skilled or unskilled (not mer-
chants as defined by said Acts of Congress), citizens of the United
States in China, whether residing within or without the treaty ports.
And the Government of the United States agrees that within
twelve months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of
APPENDIX 463
this Convention, and annually, thereafter, it will furnish to the Gov-
ernment of China registers or reports showing the full name, age,
occupation and number or place of residence of all other citizens
of the United States, including missionaries, residing both within
and without the treaty ports of China, not including, however,
diplomatic and other officers of the United States residing or travel-
ing in China upon official business, together with their body and
household servants.
Article VI.
This Convention shall remain in force for a period of ten years
beginning with the date of the exchange of ratifications, and, if six
months before the expiration of the said period of ten years, neither
Government shall have formally given notice of its final termination
to the other, it shall remain in full force for another like period of
ten years.
In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed
this Convention and have hereunto affixed our seals.
Done, in duplicate, at Washington, the 17th day of March, A. D.
1894.
Walter Q. Gresham [seal.]
(Chinese Signature) [seal.]
C. TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN.
Signed November 22, 1894 ; Proclaimed March 21, 1895.
The President of the United States of America and His Majesty
the Emperor of Japan, being equally desirous of maintaining the
relations of good understanding which happily exist between them,
by extending and increasing the intercourse between their respective
States, and being convinced that this object cannot better be accom-
plished than by revising the Treaties hitherto existing between the
two countries, have resolved to complete such a revision, based upon
principles of equity and mutual benefit, and, for that purpose, have
named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say : The President of
the United States of America, Walter Q. Gresham, Secretary of
State of the United States, and His Majesty the Emperor of Japan,
Jushii Shinichiro Kurino, of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, and
454 APPENDIX
of the Fourth Class ; who, after having communicated to each other
their full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed
upon and concluded the following Articles : —
Article I.
The citizens or subjects of each of the two High Contracting Par-
ties shall have full liberty to enter, travel, or reside in any part of
the territories of the other Contracting Party, and shall enjoy full
and perfect protection for their persons and property.
They shall have free access to the Courts of Justice in pursuit and
defense of their rights ; they shall be at liberty equally with native
citizens or subjects to choose and employ lawyers, advocates and
representatives to pursue and defend their rights before such Courts,
and in all other matters connected with the administration of justice
they shall enjoy all the rights and privileges enjoyed by native citi-
zens or subjects.
In whatever relates to rights of residence and travel ; to the pos-
session of goods and effects of any kind ; to the succession to per-
sonal estate, by will or otherwise, and the disposal of property of any
sort and in any manner whatsoever which they may lawfully acquire,
the citizens or subjects of each Contracting Party shall enjoy in the
territories of the other the same privileges, liberties, and rights, and
shall be subject to no higher imposts or charges in these respects
than native citizens or subjects, or citizens or subjects of the most
favored nation. The citizens or subjects of each of the Contracting
Parties shall enjoy in the territories of the other entire liberty of
conscience, and, subject to the laws, ordinances, and regulations,
shall enjoy the right of private or public exercise of their worship,
and also the right of burying their respective countrymen, according
to their religious customs, in such suitable and convenient places as
may be established and maintained for that purpose.
They shall not be compelled, under any pretext whatsoever, to
pay any charges or taxes other or higher than those that are, or may
be paid by native citizens or subjects, or citizens or subjects of the
most favored nation.
The citizens or subjects of either of the Contracting Parties
residing in the territories of the other shall be exempted from all
APPENDIX 455
compulsory military service whatsoever, whether in the army, navy,
national guard, or militia ; from all contributions imposed in lieu of
personal service ; and from all forced loans or military exactions or
contributions.
Article II.
There shall be reciprocal freedom of commerce and navigation
between the territories of the two High Contracting Parties.
The citizens or subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties
may trade in any part of the territories of the other by wholesale
or retail in all kinds of produce, manufactures, and merchandise of
lawful commerce, either in person or by agents, singly or in partner-
ship with foreigners or native citizens or subjects ; and they may
there own or hire and occupy houses, manufactories, warehouses,
shops and premises which may be necessary for them, and lease land
for residential and commercial purposes, conforming themselves to
the laws, police and customs regulations of the country like native
citizens or subjects.
They shall have liberty freely to come with their ships and car-
goes to all places, ports, and rivers in the territories of the other,
which are or may be opened to foreign commerce, and shall enjoy,
respectively, the same treatment in matters of commerce and navi-
gation as native citizens or subjects, or citizens or subjects of the
most favored nation, without having to pay taxes, imposts or duties,
of whatever nature or under whatever denomination levied in the
name or for the profit of the Government, public functionaries, pri-
vate individuals, corporations, or establishments of any kind, other
or greater than those paid by native citizens or subjects, or citizens
or subjects of the most favored nation.
It is, however, understood that the stipulations contained in this
and the preceding Article do not in any way affect the laws, ordi-
nances and regulations with regard to trade, the immigration of
laborers, police and public security which are in force or which may
hereafter be enacted in either of the two countries.
Article III.
The dwellings, manufactories, warehouses, and shops of the citi-
zens or subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties in the
456 APPENDIX
territories of the other, and all premises appertaining thereto des-
tined for purposes of residence or commerce, shall be respected.
It shall not be allowable to proceed to make a search of, or a
domiciliary visit to, such dwellings and premises, or to examine or
inspect books, papers, or accounts, except under the conditions and
with the forms prescribed by the laws, ordinances and regulations
for citizens or subjects of the country.
Article IV.
No other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation
into the territories of the United States of any article, the produce
or manufacture of the territories of His Majesty the Emperor of
Japan, from whatever place arriving; and no other or higher duties
shall be imposed on the importation into the territories of His
Majesty the Emperor of Japan of any article, the produce or manu-
facture of the territories of the United States, from whatever place
arriving, than on the like article produced or manufactured in any
other foreign country ; nor shall any prohibition be maintained or
imposed on the importation of any article, the produce or manufac-
ture of the territories of either of the High Contracting Parties, into
the territories of the other, from whatever place arriving, which
shall not equally extend to the importation of the like article, being
the produce or manufacture of any other country. This last pro-
vision is not applicable to the sanitary and other prohibitions occa-
sioned by the necessity of protecting the safety of persons, or of
cattle, or of plants useful to agriculture.
Article V.
No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed in the ter-
ritories of either of the High Contracting Parties on the exportation
of any article to the territories of the other than such as are, or may
be, payable on the exportation of the like article to any other for-
eign country ; nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the exporta-
tion of any article from the territories of either of the two High
Contracting Parties to the territories of the other which shall not
equally extend to the exportation of the like article to any other
country.
APPENDIX 457
Article VI.
The citizens or subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties
shall enjoy in the territories of the other exemption from all transit
duties, and a perfect equality of treatment with native citizens or
subjects in all that relates to warehousing, bounties, facilities, and
drawbacks.
Article VII.
All articles which are or may be legally imported into the ports
of the territories of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan in Japanese
vessels may likewise be imported into those ports in vessels of the
United States, without being liable to any other or higher duties or
charges of whatever denomination than if such articles were im-
ported in Japanese vessels ; and, reciprocally, all articles which are
or may be legally imported into the ports of the territories of the
United States in vessels of the United States may likewise be im-
ported into those ports in Japanese vessels, without being liable to
any other or higher duties or charges of whatever denomination than
if such articles were imported in vessels of the United States. Such
reciprocal equality of treatment shall take effect without distinction,
whether such articles come directly from the place of origin or from
any other place.
In the same manner, there shall be perfect equality of treatment
in regard to exportation, so that the same export duties shall be
paid, and the same bounties and drawbacks allowed, in the territo-
ries of either of the High Contracting Parties on the exportation of
any article which is or may be legally exported therefrom, whether
such exportation shall take place in Japanese vessels or in vessels
of the United States, and whatever may be the place of destination,
whether a port of either of the High Contracting Parties or of any
third Power.
Article VIII.
No duties of tonnage, harbor, pilotage, lighthouse, quarantine, or
other similar or corresponding duties of whatever nature, or under
whatever denomination levied in the name or for the profit of Gov-
ernment, public functionaries, private individuals, corporations, or
establishments of any kind, shall be imposed in the ports of the
458 APPENDIX
territories of either country upon the vessels of the other country
which shall not equally and under the same conditions be imposed
in the like cases on national vessels in general or vessels of the
most favored nation. Such equality of treatment shall apply reci-
procally to the respective vessels, from whatever port or place they
may arrive, and whatever may be their place of destination.
Article IX.
In all that regards the stationing, loading, and unloading of vessels
in the ports, basins, docks, roadsteads, harbors or rivers of the terri-
tories of the two countries, no privilege shall be granted to national
vessels which shall not be equally granted to vessels of the other
country ; the intention of the High Contracting Parties being that
in this respect also the respective vessels shall be treated on the
footing of perfect equality.
Article X.
The coasting trade of both the High Contracting Parties is ex-
cepted from the provisions of the present Treaty, and shall be regu-
lated according to the laws, ordinances and regulations of the United
States and Japan, respectively. It is, however, understood that
citizens of the United States in the territories of His Majesty the
Emperor of Japan and Japanese subjects in the territories of the
United States, shall enjoy in this respect the rights which are, or
may be, granted under such laws, ordinances and regulations to the
citizens or subjects of any other country.
A vessel of the United States laden in a foreign country with
cargo destined for two or more ports in the territories of His Ma-
jesty the Emperor of Japan, and a Japanese vessel laden in a foreign
country with cargo destined for two or more ports in the territories
of the United States, may discharge a portion of her cargo at one
port, and continue her voyage to the other port or ports of destina-
tion where foreign trade is permitted, for the purpose of landing the
remainder of her original cargo there, subject always to the laws
and customs regulations of the two countries.
The Japanese Government, however, agrees to allow vessels of
the United States to continue, as heretofore, for the period of the
APPENDIX 459
duration of the present Treaty, to carry cargo between the existing
open ports of the Empire, excepting to or from the ports of Osaka,
Niigata, and Ebisuminato.
Article XI.
Any ship-of-war or merchant vessel of either of the High Con-
tracting Parties which may be compelled by stress of weather, or
by reason of any other distress, to take shelter in a port of the
other, shall be at liberty to refit therein, to procure all necessary
supplies, and to put to sea again, without paying any dues other than
such as would be payable by national vessels. In case, however,
the master of a merchant vessel should be under the necessity of
disposing of a part of his cargo in order to defray the expenses, he
shall be bound to conform to the regulations and tariffs of the place
to which he may have come.
If any ship-of-war or merchant vessel of one of the High Con-
tracting Parties should run aground or be wrecked upon the coasts
of the other, the local authorities shall inform the Consul General,
Consul, Vice-Consul, or Consular Agent of the district, of the occur-
rence, or if there be no such consular officers, they shall inform the
Consul General, Consul, Vice-Consul, or Consular Agent of the
nearest district.
All proceedings relative to the salvage of Japanese vessels,
wrecked or cast on shore in the territorial waters of the United
States, shall take place in accordance with the laws of the United
States, and, reciprocally, all measures of salvage relative to vessels
of the United States, wrecked or cast on shore in the territorial
waters of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, shall take place in
accordance with the laws, ordinances, and regulations of Japan.
Such stranded or wrecked ship or vessel, and all parts thereof,
and all furniture and appurtenances belonging thereunto, and all
goods and merchandise saved therefrom, including those which may
have been cast into the sea, or the proceeds thereof, if sold, as well
as all papers found on board such stranded or wrecked ship or
vessel, shall be given up to the owners or their agents, when claimed
by them. If such owners or agents are not on the spot, the same
shall be delivered to the respective Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-
460 APPENDIX
Consuls, or Consular Agents upon being claimed by them within the
period fixed by the laws, ordinances and regulations of the country,
and such Consular officers, owners, or agents shall pay only the
expenses incurred in the preservation of the property, together with
the salvage or other expenses which would have been payable in the
case of the wreck of a national vessel.
The goods and merchandise saved from the wreck shall be exempt
from all the duties of the Customs unless cleared for consumption,
in which case they shall pay the ordinary duties.
When a vessel belonging to the citizens or subjects of one of the
High Contracting Parties is stranded or wrecked in the territories
of the other, the respective Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls,
and Consular Agents shall be authorized, in case the owner or
master, or other agent of the owner, is not present, to lend their
official assistance in order to afford the necessary assistance to the
citizens or subjects of the respective States. The same rule shall
apply in case the owner, master, or other agent is present, but re-
quires such assistance to be given.
Article XII.
All vessels which, according to United States law, are to be
deemed vessels of the United States, and all vessels which, accord-
ing to Japanese law, are to be deemed Japanese vessels, shall, for
the purposes of this Treaty, be deemed vessels of the United States
and Japanese vessels, respectively.
Article XIII.
The Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents
of each of the High Contracting Parties, residing in the territories
of the other, shall receive from the local authorities such assistance
as can by law be given to them for the recovery of deserters from
the vessels of their respective countries.
It is understood that this stipulation shall not apply to the citizens
or subjects of the country where the desertion takes place.
Article XIV.
The High Contracting Parties agree that, in all that concerns
APPENDIX 461
commerce and navigation, any privilege, favor or immunity which
either High Contracting Party has actually granted, or may here-
after grant, to the Government, ships, citizens, or subjects of any
other State, shall be extended to the Government, ships, citizens, or
subjects of the other High Contracting Party, gratuitously, if the
concession in favor of that other State shall have been gratuitous,
and on the same or equivalent conditions if the concession shall
have been conditional : it being their intention that the trade and
navigation of each country shall be placed, in all respects, by the
other, upon the footing of the most favored nation.
Article XV.
Each of the High Contracting Parties may appoint Consuls Gen-
eral, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Pro-Consuls, and Consular Agents, in
all the ports, cities, and places of the other, except in those where it
may not be convenient to recognize such officers.
This exception, however, shall not be made in regard to one of
the High Contracting Parties without being made likewise in regard
to every other Power.
The Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Pro-Consuls, and
Consular Agents, may exercise all functions, and shall enjoy all
privileges, exemptions, and immunities which are, or may hereafter
be, granted to Consular officers of the most favored nation.
Article XVI.
The citizens or subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties
shall enjoy in the territories of the other the same protection as
native citizens or subjects in regard to patents, trade-marks and
designs, upon fulfillment of the formalities prescribed by law.
Article XVII.
The High Contracting Parties agree to the following arrange-
ment : —
The several Foreign Settlements in Japan shall, from the date
this Treaty comes into force, be incorporated with the&respective
Japanese Communes, and shall thenceforth form part of the general
municipal system of Japan. The competent Japanese Authorities
462 APPENDIX
shall thereupon assume all municipal obligations and duties in re-
spect thereof, and the common funds and property, if any, belong-
ing to such Settlements shall at the same time be transferred to the
said Japanese Authorities.
When such incorporation takes place existing leases in perpetuity
upon which property is now held in the said Settlements shall be
confirmed, and no conditions whatsoever other than those contained
in such existing leases shall be imposed in respect of such property.
It is, however, understood that the Consular Authorities mentioned
in the same are in all cases to be replaced by the Japanese Author-
ities. All lands which may previously have been granted by the
Japanese Government free of rent for the public purposes of the said
Settlements shall, subject to the right of eminent domain, be per-
manently reserved free of all taxes and charges for the public pur-
poses for which they were originally set apart
Article XVIII.
This Treaty shall, from the date it comes into force, be substi-
tuted in place of the Treaty of Peace and Amity concluded on the
3d day of the 3d month of the 7th year of Kayei, corresponding to
the 31st day of March, 1854 ; the Treaty of Amity and Commerce
concluded on the 19th day of the 6th month of the 5th year of
Ansei, corresponding to the 29th day of July, 1858 ; the Tariff
Convention concluded on the 13th day of the 5th month of the
2d year of Keio, corresponding to the 25th day of June, 1866 ; the
Convention concluded on the 25th day of the 7th month of the 11th
year of Meiji, corresponding to the 25th day of July, 1878, and all
Arrangements and Agreements subsidiary thereto concluded or
existing between the High Contracting Parties ; and from the same
date such Treaties, Conventions, Arrangements and Agreements
shall cease to be binding, and, in consequence, the jurisdiction then
exercised by Courts of the United States in Japan and all the ex-
ceptional privileges, exemptions and immunities then enjoyed by
citizens of the United States as a part of, or appurtenant to such
jurisdiction, shall absolutely and without notice cease and deter-
mine, and thereafter all such jurisdiction shall be assumed and exer-
cised by Japanese Courts.
APPENDIX 463
Article XIX.
This Treaty shall go into operation on the 17th day of July,
1899, and shall remain in force for the period of twelve years from
that date.
Either High Contracting Party shall have the right, at any time
thereafter, to give notice to the other of its intention to terminate
the same, and at the expiration of twelve months after such notice
is given this Treaty shall wholly cease and determine.
Article XX.
This Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be
exchanged, either at Washington or Tokio, as soon as possible and
not later than six months after its signature.
In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed
the present Treaty in duplicate and have thereunto affixed their
seals.
Done at the City of Washington the 22d day of November, in the
eighteen hundred and ninety-fourth year of the Christian era, cor-
responding to the 22d day of the 11th month of the 27th year of
Meiji.
Walter Q. Gresham [seal.]
Shinichiro Kurino [seal.]
D. JOINT RESOLUTION FOR ANNEXING THE HAWAHAN
ISLANDS TO THE UNITED STATES, 1898.
Whereas the Government of the Republic of Hawaii having, in
due form, signified its consent, in the manner provided by its con-
stitution, to cede absolutely and without reserve to the United States
of America all rights of sovereignty of whatsoever kind in and over
the Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies, and also to cede and
transfer to the United States the absolute fee and ownership of all
public, Government, or Crown lands, public buildings or edifices,
ports, harbors, military equipment, and all other public property of
every kind and description belonging to the Government of the
464 APPENDIX
Hawaiian Islands, together with every right and appurtenance
thereunto appertaining : Therefore,
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That said cession
is accepted, ratified, and confirmed, and that the said Hawaiian
Islands and their dependencies be, and they are hereby, annexed as
a part of the territory of the United States and are subject to the
sovereign dominion thereof, and that all and singular the property
and rights hereinbefore mentioned are vested in the United States
of America.
The existing laws of the United States relative to public lands
shall not apply to such lands in the Hawaiian Islands ; but the Con-
gress of the United States shall enact special laws for their manage-
ment and disposition: Provided, That all revenue from or pro-
ceeds of the same, except as regards such part thereof as may be
used or occupied for the civil, military, or naval purposes of the
United States, or may be assigned for the use of the local govern-
ment, shall be used solely for the benefit of the inhabitants of the
Hawaiian Islands for educational and other public purposes.
Until Congress shall provide for the government of such islands
all the civil, judicial, and military powers exercised by the officers
of the existing government in said islands shall be vested in such
person or persons and shall be exercised in such manner as the
President of the United States shall direct; and the President shall
have power to remove said officers and fill the vacancies so occa-
sioned.
The existing treaties of the Hawaiian Islands with foreign na-
tions shall forthwith cease and determine, being replaced by such
treaties as may exist, or as may be hereafter concluded, between the
United States and such foreign nations. The municipal legislation
of the Hawaiian Islands, not enacted for the fulfillment of the trea-
ties so extinguished, and not inconsistent with this joint resolution
nor contrary to the Constitution of the United States nor to any
existing treaty of the United States, shall remain in force until the
Congress of the United States shall otherwise determine.
Until legislation shall be enacted extending the United States
customs laws and regulations to the Hawaiian Islands the existing
APPENDIX 465
customs relations of the Hawaiian Islands with the United States
and other countries shall remain unchanged.
The public debt of the Republic of Hawaii, lawfully existing at
the date of the passage of this joint resolution, including the amounts
due to depositors in the Hawaiian Postal Savings Bank, is hereby
assumed by the Government of the United States ; but the liability
of the United States in this regard shall in no case exceed four mil-
lion dollars. So long, however, as the existing Government and the
present commercial relations of the Hawaiian Islands are continued
hereinbefore as provided said Government shall continue to pay the
interest on said debt.
There shall be no further immigration of Chinese into the Hawai-
ian Islands, except upon such conditions as are now or may here-
after be allowed by the laws of the United States ; and no Chinese,
by reason of anything herein contained, shall be allowed to enter
the United States from the Hawaiian Islands.
The President shall appoint five commissioners, at least two of
whom shall be residents of the Hawaiian Islands, who shall, as soon
as reasonably practicable, recommend to Congress such legislation
concerning the Hawaiian Islands as they shall deem necessary or
proper.
Sec. 2. That the commissioners hereinbefore provided for shall
be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate.
Sec. 3. That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, or so
much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of
any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and to be
immediately available, to be expended at the discretion of the Presi-
dent of the United States of America, for the purpose of carrying
this joint resolution into effect.
Approved July 7, 1898.
466 APPENDIX
E. THE SAMOAN TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES,
GERMANY, AND GREAT BRITAIN, 1899.
Signed December 2, 1899; Proclaimed February 16, 1900.
The President of the United States of America, His Imperial
Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, and Her Majesty
the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Em-
press of India, desiring to adjust amicably the questions which have
arisen between them in respect to the Samoan group of Islands,
as well as to avoid all future misunderstanding in respect to their
joint or several rights and claims of possession or jurisdiction therein,
have agreed to establish and regulate the same by a special conven-
tion ; and whereas the Governments of Germany and Great Britain
have, with the concurrence of that of the United States, made an
agreement regarding their respective rights and interests in the
aforesaid group, the three Powers before named in furtherance of
the ends above mentioned have appointed respectively their Pleni-
potentiaries as follows :
The President of the United States of America, the Honorable
John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States ;
His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, His Ambas-
sador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Herr von Holleben ; and
Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress
of India, the Right Honorable Lord Pauncef ote of Preston, G. C. B.,
G. C M. G., Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary :
who, after having communicated each to the other their respec-
tive full powers which were found to be in proper form, have agreed
upon and concluded the following articles :
Article I.
The General Act concluded and signed by the aforesaid Powers
at Berlin on the 14th day of June, A. d. 1889, and all previous trea-
ties, conventions and agreements relating to Samoa, are annulled.
APPENDIX 467
Article II.
Germany renounces in favor of the United States of America all
her rights and claims over and in respect to the Island of Tutuila,
and all other islands of the Samoan group east of Longitude 171°
west of Greenwich.
Great Britain in like manner renounces in favor of the United
States of America all her rights and claims over and in respect to
the Island of Tutuila and all other islands of the Samoan group
east of Longitude 171° west of Greenwich.
Reciprocally, the United States of America renounce in favor of
Germany all their rights and claims over and in respect to the Islands
of Upolu and Savaii and all other Islands of the Samoan group
west of Longitude 171° west of Greenwich.
Article III.
It is understood and agreed that each of the three signatory Pow-
ers shall continue to enjoy, in respect to their commerce and com-
mercial vessels, in all the islands of the Samoan group privileges
and conditions equal to those enjoyed by the Sovereign Power, in
all ports which may be open to the commerce of either of them.
Article IV.
The present Convention shall be ratified as soon as possible, and
shall come into force immediately after the exchange of ratifica-
tions.
In faith whereof, we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed
this Convention and have hereunto affixed our seals.
Done in triplicate, at Washington, the second day of December,
in the year ol Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-
nine.
John Hat [seal.]
holleben [seal.]
Pauncefote [seal.]
468 APPENDIX
F. PROTOCOL BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND
SPAIN, August 12, 1898.
William R. Day, Secretary of State of the United States, and
His Excellency Jules Cambon, Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the Republic of France at Washington, respec-
tively possessing for this purpose full authority from the Govern-
ment of the United States and the Government of Spain, have
concluded and signed the following articles, embodying the terms
on which the two Governments have agreed in respect to the matters
hereinafter set forth, having in view the establishment of peace
between the two countries, that is to say :
Article I.
Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title to
Cuba.
Article II.
Spain will cede to the United States the island of Porto Rico and
other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies,
and also an island in the Ladrones to be selected by the United
States.
Article III.
The United States will occupy and hold the city, bay and harbor
of Manila, pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which shall
determine the control, disposition and government of the Philip-
pines.
Article IV.
Spain will immediately evacuate Cuba, Porto Rico and other
islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies ; and to
this end each Government will, within ten days after the signing of
this protocol, appoint Commissioners, and the Commissioners so
appointed shall, within thirty days after the signing of this protocol,
meet at Havana for the purpose of arranging and carrying out the
details of the aforesaid evacuation of Cuba and the adjacent Span-
ish islands ; and each Government will, within ten days after the
signing of this protocol, also appoint other Commissioners, who
APPENDIX 469
shall, within thirty days after the signing of this protocol, meet at
San Juan in Porto Rico, for the purpose of arranging and carrying
out the details of the aforesaid evacuation of Porto Rico and other
islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies.
Article V.
The United States and Spain will each appoint not more than
five commissioners to treat of peace, and the commissioners so ap-
pointed shall meet at Paris not later than October 1, 1898, and
proceed to the negotiation and conclusion of a treaty of peace, which
treaty shall be subject to ratification according to the respective
constitutional forms of the two countries.
Article VI.
Upon the conclusion and signing of this protocol, hostilities be-
tween the two countries shall be suspended, and notice to that effect
shall be given as soon as possible by each Government to the com-
manders of its military and naval forces.
Done at Washington in duplicate, in English and in French, by
the Undersigned, who have hereunto set their hands and seals, the
12th day of August, 1898.
[seal.] William R. Day.
[seal.] Jules Cambon.
Treaty of Peace between the United States and Spain, 1898.
Signed December 10, 1898 ; Proclaimed April 11, 1899.
The United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen Regent
of Spain, in the Name of Her August Son Don Alfonso XIII, desir-
ing to end the state of war now existing between the two countries,
have for that purpose appointed as Plenipotentiaries :
The President of the United States,
William R. Day, Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, George
Gray, and Whitelaw Reid, citizens of the United States ;
and Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain,
Don Eugenio Montero Rios, President of the Senate,
470 APPENDIX
Don Buenaventura de Abarzuza, Senator of the Kingdom and
ex-Minister of the Crown,
Don Jose* de Garnica, Deputy to the Cortes and Associate Justice
of the Supreme Court ;
Don Wenceslao Ramirez de Villa-Urrutia, Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary at Brussels, and
Don Rafael Cerero, General of Division ;
Who, having assembled in Paris, and having exchanged their full
powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have, after
discussion of the matters before them, agreed upon the following
articles :
Article I.
Spain relinquishes all claim to sovereignty over and title to Cuba.
And as the island is, upon its evacuation by Spain, to be occupied
by the United States, the United States will, so long as such occu-
pation shall last, assume and discharge the obligations that may
under international law result from the fact of its occupation, for
the protection of life and property.
Article II.
Spain cedes to the United States the island of Porto Rico and
other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies,
and the island of Guam in the Marianas or Ladrones.
Article III.
Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the
Philippine Islands and comprehending the islands lying within the
following line :
A line running from west to east along or near the twentieth
parallel of north latitude, and through the middle of the navigable
channel of Bachi, from the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) to
the one hundred and twenty-seventh (127th) degree meridian of
longitude east of Greenwich, thence along the one hundred and
twenty-seventh (127th) degree meridian of longitude east of Green-
wich to the parallel of four degrees and forty-five minutes (4° 45')
north latitude, thence along the parallel of four degrees and forty-
five minutes (4° 45') north latitude to its intersection with the
APPENDIX 471
meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirty-
five minutes (119° 35') east of Greenwich, thence along the me-
ridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirty-
five minutes (119° 35') east of Greenwich to the parallel of latitude
seven degrees and forty minutes (7° 40') north, thence along the
parallel of latitude seven degrees and forty minutes (7° 40') north
to its intersection with the one hundred and sixteenth (116th) de-
gree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, thence by a direct
line to the intersection of the tenth (10th) degree parallel of north
latitude with the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) degree merid-
ian of longitude east of Greenwich, and thence along the one hun-
dred and eighteenth (118th) degree meridian of longitude east of
Greenwich to the point of beginning.
The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million
dollars ($20,000,000) within three months after the exchange of the
ratifications of the present treaty.
Article IV.
The United States will, for the term of ten years from the date
of the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, admit
Spanish ships and merchandise to the ports of the Philippine Islands
on the same terms as ships and merchandise of the United States.
Article V.
The United States will, upon the signature of the present treaty,
send back to Spain, at its own cost, the Spanish soldiers taken as
prisoners of war on the capture of Manila by the American forces.
The arms of the soldiers in question shall be restored to them.
Spain will, upon the exchange of the ratifications of the present
treaty, proceed to evacuate the Philippines, as well as the island of
Guam, on terms similar to those agreed upon by the Commissioners
appointed to arrange for the evacuation of Porto Rico and other
islands in the West Indies, under the Protocol of August 12, 1898,
which is to continue in force till its provisions are completely exe-
cuted.
The time within which the evacuation of the Philippine Islands
and Guam shall be completed shall be fixed by the two Govern-
472 APPENDIX
ments. Stands of colors, uncaptured war vessels, small arms, guns
of all calibres, with their carriages and accessories, powder, ammu-
nition, livestock, and materials and supplies of all kinds, belonging
to the land and naval forces of Spain in the Philippines and Guam,
remain the property of Spain. Pieces of heavy ordnance, exclusive
of field artillery, in the fortifications and coast defenses, shall remain
in their emplacements for the term of six months, to be reckoned
from the exchange of ratifications of the treaty ; and the United
States may, in the mean time, purchase such material from Spain,
if a satisfactory agreement between the two Governments on the
subject shall be reached.
Article VI.
Spain will, upon the signature of the present treaty, release all
prisoners of war, and all persons detained or imprisoned for political
offenses, in connection with the insurrections in Cuba and the Phil-
ippines and the war with the United States.
Reciprocally, the United States will release all persons made pris-
oners of war by the American forces, and will undertake to obtain
the release of all Spanish prisoners in the hands of the insurgents in
Cuba and the Philippines.
The Government of the United States will at its own cost return
to Spain and the Government of Spain will at its own cost return to
the United States, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, according
to the situation of their respective homes, prisoners released or
caused to be released by them, respectively, under this article.
Article VII.
The United States and Spain mutually relinquish all claims for
indemnity, national and individual of every kind, of either Govern-
ment, or of its citizens or subjects, against the other Government,
that may have arisen since the beginning of the late insurrection in
Cuba and prior to the exchange of ratifications of the present treaty,
including all claims for indemnity for the cost of the war.
The United States will adjudicate and settle the claims of its citi-
zens against Spain relinquished in this article.
APPENDIX 473
Article VIII.
In conformity with the provisions of Articles I, II, and IH of
this treaty, Spain relinquishes in Cuba, and cedes in Porto Rico and
other islands in the West Indies, in the island of Guam, and in the
Philippine Archipelago, all the buildings, wharves, barracks, forts,
structures, public highways and other immovable property which, in
conformity with law, belong to the public domain, and as such
belong to the Crown of Spain.
And it is hereby declared that the relinquishment or cession, as
the case may be, to which the preceding paragraph refers, cannot in
any respect impair the property or rights which by law belong to
the peaceful possession of property of all kinds, of provinces, muni-
cipalities, public or private establishments, ecclesiastical or civic
bodies, or any other associations having legal capacity to acquire
and possess property in the aforesaid territories renounced or ceded,
or of private individuals, of whatsoever nationality such individuals
may be.
The aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, in-
cludes all documents exclusively referring to the sovereignty relin-
quished or ceded that may exist in the archives of the Peninsula.
Where any document in such archives only in part relates to said
sovereignty, a copy of such part will be furnished whenever it shall
be requested. Like rules shall be reciprocally observed in favor of
Spain in respect of documents in the archives of the islands above
referred to.
In the aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, are
also included such rights as the Crown of Spain and its authorities
possess in respect of the official archives and records, executive as
well as judicial, in the islands above referred to, which relate to said
islands or the rights and property of their inhabitants. Such ar-
chives and records shall be carefully preserved, and private persons
shall without distinction have the right to require, in accordance
with law, authenticated copies of the contracts, wills, and other in-
struments forming part of notarial protocols or files, or which may
be contained in the executive or judicial archives, be the latter in
Spain or in the islands aforesaid.
474: APPENDIX
Article IX.
Spanish subjects, natives of the Peninsula, residing in the terri-
tory over which Spain by the present treaty relinquishes or cedes her
sovereignty, may remain in such territory or may remove therefrom,
retaining in either event all their rights of property, including the
r.ght to sell or dispose of such property or of its proceeds ; and they
shall also have the right to carry on their industry, commerce and
professions, being subject in respect thereof to such laws as are
applicable to other foreigners. In case they remain in the territory
they may preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain by making,
before a court of record, within a year from the date of the exchange
of ratifications of this treaty, a declaration of their decision to pre-
serve such allegiance ; in default of which declaration they shall be
held to have renounced it and to have adopted the nationality of the
territory in which they may reside.
The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of
the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined
by the Congress.
Article X.
The inhabitants of the territories over which Spain relinquishes
or cedes her sovereignty shall be secured in the free exercise of their
religion.
Article XL
The Spaniards residing in the territories over which Spain by this
treaty cedes or relinquishes her sovereignty shall be subject in mat-
ters civil as well as criminal to the jurisdiction of the courts of the
country wherein they reside, pursuant to the ordinary laws govern-
ing the same ; and they shall have the right to appear before such
courts, and to pursue the same course as citizens of the country to
which the courts belong.
Article XII.
Judicial proceedings pending at the time of the exchange of rati-
fications of this treaty in the territories over which Spain relin-
quishes or cedes her sovereignty shall be determined according to
the following rules :
APPENDIX 475
1. Judgments rendered either in civil suits between private indi-
viduals, or in criminal matters, before the date mentioned, and with
respect to which there is no recourse or right of review under the
Spanish law, shall be deemed to be final, and shall be executed in
due form by competent authority in the territory within which such
judgments should be carried out.
2. Civil suits between private individuals which may on the date
mentioned be undetermined shall be prosecuted to judgment before
the court in which they may then be pending or in the court that
may be substituted therefor.
3. Criminal actions pending on the date mentioned before the
Supreme Court of Spain against citizens of the territory which by
this treaty ceases to be Spanish shall continue under its jurisdiction
until final judgment ; but, such judgment having been rendered, the
execution thereof shall be committed to the competent authority of
the place in which the case arose.
Article XIII.
The rights of property secured by copyrights and patents acquired
by Spaniards in the island of Cuba, and in Porto Rico, the Philip-
pines and other ceded territories, at the time of the exchange of the
ratifications of this treaty, shall continue to be respected. Spanish
scientific, literary and artistic works, not subversive of public order
in the territories in question, shall continue to be admitted free of
duty into such territories, for the period of ten years, to be reckoned
from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty.
Article XIV.
Spain shall have the power to establish consular officers in the
ports and places of the territories, the sovereignty over which has
been either relinquished or ceded by the present treaty.
Article XV.
The Government of each country will, for the term of ten years,
accord to the merchant vessels of the other country the same treat-
ment in respect of all port charges, including entrance and clearance
dues, light dues, and tonnage duties, as it accords to its own mer-
chant vessels, not engaged in the coastwise trade.
476 APPENDIX
This article may at any time be terminated on six months' notice
given by either Government to the other.
Article XVI.
It is understood that any obligations assumed in this treaty by the
United States with respect to Cuba are limited to the time of its
occupancy thereof ; but it will upon the termination of such occu-
pancy, advise any Government established in the island to assume
the same obligations.
Article XVII.
The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United
States, by and with the advice anti consent of the Senate thereof,
and by Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain ; and the ratifica-
tions shall be exchanged at Washington within six months from the
date hereof, or earlier if possible.
In faith whereof, we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed
this treaty and have hereunto affixed our seals.
Done in duplicate at Paris, the tenth day of December, in the
year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight.
[seal.] William R. Day. [seal.] Eugenic- Montero Rios.
[seal.] Cushman K. Davis, [seal.] B. de Abarzuza.
[seal.] Wm. P. Frye. [seal.] J. de Garnica.
[seal.] Geo. Gray. [seal.] W. R. de Villa Urrutia.
[seal.] Whitelaw Reid. [seal.] Rafael Cerero.
INDEX
Acteon affair, at Honolulu, 121.
Adams, English pilot, in Japan, 8.
Adams, John Quincy, on treatment of
Napier by Chinese, 63 ; on the Opium
War, 73 ; suggested for Chinese Mis-
sion, 78 ; on Christian missions in
Hawaiian Islands, 107.
Allen, Dr. H. N., reception of, in
Korea, 329 ; American minister to
Korea, 329.
American Board of Foreign Missions,
sends missionaries to Hawaii, 106 ;
expenditures of, in Hawaii, 109.
Amherst, Lord, sent as ambassador to
China (1815), 25.
Angell, Dr. James B., one of commis-
sion to negotiate immigration treaty
with China, 294 ; American minister
to China, 295.
Annam, Roberts sent on mission to, 46 ;
Roberts's embassy at, 48.
Annexation. Vancouver's attempted, of
Hawaiian Islands, 112 ; of Hawaiian
Islands attempted by Lord Paulet,
124 ; provisional, of Hawaii to United
States (1851), 130; of Formosa and
Lew Chew Islands by United States
proposed, 229 ; of Hawaii to United
States indicated (1850-1860), 365;
of Hawaii, Secretary Marcy directs
American minister to propose, 366 ;
treaty of, negotiated with Hawaii,
366 ; to United States, Lord Palmer-
ston declares to be destiny of Ha-
waii, 368 ; treaty negotiated between
Hawaii and United States February,
1893, 377 ; treaty of, with Hawaii,
(1893), withdrawn by President
Cleveland, 378 ; treaty between Ha-
waii and United States negotiated in
1897, 381 ; Japanese opposition to,
of Hawaii to United States, 382;
joint resolution for, to United States
signed July, 1898, 383 ; reason for,
of Hawaii to United States, 384 ; of
Philippine Islands by United States,
405 ; text of joint resolution of Con-
gress for the, of Hawaii, 463.
Apia, American squadron destroyed by
hurricane at, 392.
Arrow War, cause of, 223 ; views of
British statesinen as to, 224 ; views
of United States ministers as to, 225.
Atlantic cable, one of messages over,
in 1858, announced peace in China,
245.
Audience, by Dutch officials at Yedo,
14; Ismailoff's, with Chinese em-
peror, 20; Lord Macartney's, with
Chinese emperor, 23.
Audience question, raised on Ward's
arrival at Peking, 249; prolonged
discussion of, 250 ; in China again
raised, 269 ; temporary settlement
of, in 1873, 270 ; again raised in
China, in 1891, 270 ; points involved
in, 271 ; settlement of, 271 ; finally
settled by peace agreement between
China and allies in 1901, 431.
Aulick, Commodore, selected to com-
mand Japan expedition, 146 ; recalled
from Japan expedition, 147 ; dis-
agreement of, with Minister Mar-
shall, 206.
Balestier, J., commissioner to negotiate
treaty with Borneo, 142.
Baranoff, governor of Russian Amer-
ica, attempts annexation of Hawaiian
Islands, 112.
Barrier Forts, American naval force
fires upon, 226.
Berlin Act, substance of, regarding
Samoa, 394.
Berlin Samoan Conference, 393.
Biddle, Commodore, enters Bay of
Yedo, 1846, 143.
Blount, J. H., commissioner to investi-
gate Hawaiian revolution and condi-
tions, 378.
Bogue Forts fire on British squadron,
62.
478
INDEX
Borneo, Balestier negotiates treaty
with sultan of, 142.
Bowring, Sir John, British governor of
Hongkong, 215 ; course pursued by,
in relation to Lorcha Arrow, 223 ;
linguist and hymnologist, 223.
Boxers, outbreak of, in China, 408 ;
meaning of name, I Ho Tuan or,
408 ; origin of, 409 ; cause of uprising
of, 409 ; missions, not chief cause of
uprising of, in China, 412 ; most po-
tent cause of uprising of, political,
414 ; proclamation of empress dow-
ager favorable to, 416 ; progress of
uprising of, 417; attack railroad
stations, 419 ; aimed to drive out
foreigners and not Christians partic-
ularly, 421 ; Chinese government
sympathizes with, and gives aid to,
42 1 ; question of punishment of lead-
ers of, in peace negotiations, 428.
Bridgman, Rev. E. C., American mis-
sionary and editor of Chinese Reposi-
tory, 3 ; secretary of Cushing em-
bassy, 79.
British East India Company, see East
India Company.
Burke, Edmund, on American whale
fishery, 102.
Burlingame, Anson, career of, 257 ; ap-
pointed American minister to China,
258 ; arrives in China, 258 ; secures
adoption of " a policy of coopera-
tion," 258 ; appointed Chinese envoy
to Western powers, 203; character
and conduct of, as Chinese envoy,
264 ; death of, 264 ; Blaine's opinion
of, 267.
Burlingame embassy, constitution of,
263 ; reception of, in United States
and Europe, 264 ; object of, 265 ;
result of, treaty of 1868 with United
States, 265.
California. Chinese laborers arrive in,
282 ; influence of development of, on
Hawaiian industries, 365, 368, 370;
opposition in, to Chinese immigra-
tion, 285.
Canton, attacked by Capt. Weddel
(1635), 5 ; Chinese ports closed ex-
cept, 7; foreign women excluded
from, 19 ; Krusenstern's attempt to
trade at, 21 ; only port open to Brit-
ish trade, 24; first American vessel
arrives at, 27 ; Shaw, first American
consul at, 32 ; conduct of trade at,
33 ; exchange of prisoners by United
States and Great Britain at, 39 ; for-
eign factories at, 41 ; embarassments
of trade at, 43 ; treatmentof Roberts's
embassy at, 47 ; conditions of trade
at, 56 ; Lord Napier at, 57 ; English
trade stopped at, 62 ; British troops
stationed in factories at, 62 ; Napier
withdraws from, 62; execution of
Chinese opium dealer at, 67 ; fac-
tories at, closed to stop opium trade,
69 ; ransomed from assault during
Opium War, 70 ; Americans indem-
nified for injuries during Opium
War, 74 ; riot at, over weather-vane
of American consul, 91 ; riot at, dur-
ing negotiation of Cushing treaty,
92 ; enlargement of factories at, 95 ;
residence of foreign representatives
outside walls of, 96 ; bombardment
and capture of, by British (1856),
223 ; Americans charged with par-
ticipating in British attack on, 227 ;
looting of palaces in, by British,
228 ; sack of, by allies (1857), 233.
Carrington, Edward, American con-
sular agent at Canton, 39.
Carysf ort affair at Hawaii, 124.
Chang Chih Tung, viceroy, author of
book on reforms for China, 417.
Chang Yen Huan, one of Chinese peace
commissioners sent to Japan, 339 ;
biographical note on, 339.
Charlton, Richard, British consul-gen-
eral to Hawaiian Islands, 113 ; ap-
peals to Lord Paulet to enforce
claims against Hawaii, 124.
Charter oath, taken by Mikado, 199.
China, early relations of, with Japan,
2 ; early relations of, with the West,
2 ; Dutch squadron arrives off coast
of, 4 ; first European vessel to, 4 ;
Portuguese outrages in, 4; British
vessels arrive in (1635), 5; cause of
antipathy to foreigners by, 6 ; early
missionaries to, 6 ; early relations of,
with Spain, 6 ; ports of, closed, ex-
cept Canton, 7 ; European attempts
during 17th and 18th centuries to
trade with, 16 ; treaty of 1689, with
Russia, 17 ; war between Russia and,
17th century, 17 ; Russian ambassa-
dors of 1693 and 1719 to, 18 ; treaty
of 1727, with Russia, 21 ; early trade
of Russia with, 21 ; British trade
with, during 18th century, 22 ; Ma-
cartney embassy to, 22; King of
England in 1795 sends presents to
emperor of, 24; Amherst embassy
INDEX
479
to (1815), 25 ; first American vessel
arrives in, 27 ; American trade with,
30 ; fur trade with, 31 ; Shaw, first
American consul in, 32 ; profits of,
37 ; relaxation of trade regulations
in, 41 ; better position of United
States politically in, 44 ; use of opium
in, 64; Opium War between Great
Britain and, 70; treaty between
Great Britain and (1842), 71 ; grants
Americans equal commercial rela-
tions with British, 75 ; Cushing mis-
sion to, 79 ; treaty of Wang Hiya
(1844) between United States and,
86; exterritoriality first applied in,
92 ; treaty between France and
(1844), 95 ; isthmus of Panama,
bulwark of independence of, 133 ;
projected steamship line between
San Francisco and, 146 ; Davis,
United States commissioner to, 204 ;
Marshall, United States commis-
sioner to; 205 ; Yeh, high commis-
sioner of, 205 ; attempts of Marshall
to secure interview with commis-
sioner of, 205 ; E-liang receives
President's letter from Marshall for
delivery to emperor of, 206 ; Tai-
ping Rebellion in, 208 ; services ren-
dered to, by Gen. Ward and his
" Ever Victorious Army," 212 ; Mc-
Lane succeeds Marshall as minister
to, 213 ; McLane's treatment by high
commissioner of, 214; determination
of foreign ministers to, to proceed to
Peiho and renew demands, 216 ; ar-
rival of foreign ministers to, at mouth
of Peiho, 216 ; opposition of, to treaty
revision, 217 ; reception of foreign
ministers by commissioner of, on
banks of Peiho, 217 ; commissioner
of, without plenary powers, 217 ; fail-
ure of conference relative to revision
of treaties with, 218 ; McLane urges
a more vigorous policy in, 218 ; Amer-
ican merchants at Shanghai pay du-
ties to, 218 ; Parker charge* of United
States in, 219; neutrality of United
States during Taiping Rebellion in,
220 ; Dr. Parker appointed commis-
sioner to, 221 ; attempts of Parker
to secure revision of treaty with,
221 ; return by viceroy at Shang-
hai of President's letter to emperor
of, with seals broken, 222 ; the Ar-
row War between Great Britain and,
223 ; American surveying party fired
upon near Canton, 225; attack on
forts near Canton, by Americans,
22tf ; Yeh excuses firing on survey-
ing party near Canton, 226 ; charge
of participation by Americans in
British attack on Canton, 227 ; Brit-
ish campaign in, delayed by Sepoy
Rebellion, 228 ; looting of palaces in
Canton, by British, 228 ; plan of
Minister Parker to avoid war in,
229; conservative policy of United
States in relation to, 229 ; Reed suc-
ceeds Parker as United States minis-
ter to, 231 ; instructed to cooperate
with powers in peaceful efforts,
231 ; United States could not make
war against, without authority of
Congress, 232 ; Lord Elgin, British,
and Baron Gros, French representa-
tive in, 232 ; sack of Canton, by
allies, 283 ; war by England and
France (1857) against, 233; Reed
fails to secure interview with high
commissioner of, 233 ; disappoint-
ment of Elgin and Gros at United
States' policy toward, 233 ; attitude
of Russia toward, 234 ; Reed advo-
cates strong measures in dealing
with, 234; foreign ministers unite
in demanding revision of treaties,
235 ; attitude of United States as to
coercive measures with, 236 ; refuses
to allow foreign ministers to directly
communicate with court, 236; for-
eign ministers to, proceed to the
Peiho, 236 ; foreign ministers from
Peiho demand appointment of pleni-
potentiaries by, 237 ; foreign minis-
ters proceed to Tientsin, 238 ; Taku
forts of, taken by assault, 238 ; trea-
ties of 1858 negotiated, 238; Lord
Elgin's coercive measures in secur-
ing treaty with, 241 ; provisions of
treaties of 1858 with, 242 ; relative
to toleration of Christianity in, 243 ;
trade and tariff regulations nego-
tiated and settlement of claims
against, 243 ; United States returns
part of Canton Indemnity Fund to,
244 ; Dr. Williams, charge* of United
States legation in, 244; Ward, min-
ister to, 245 ; foreign ministers ar-
rive at Peiho on way to exchange
ratifications with, 246 ; exchange of
Russian treaty with, 246 ; Ward de-
layed in exchange of ratifications
with, 246; battle of the Peiho and
repulse of allies by, 247 ; allied
forces retire to Shanghai after de-
480
INDEX
feat by, 248; Ward conducted to
Peking1 by direction of emperor of,
249 ; audience question prevents ex-
change of ratifications with, 251 ;
Ward leaves Peking without ex-
changing ratifications with, 252 ;
Ward retires as minister to, 253 ;
Williams, charge" of American lega-
tion in, 253; unattractiveness of
mission to, 253 ; Elgin and Gros re-
turn to, in 1860, with large force,
254 ; allies capture Taku forts and
march to Peking, 254 ; result of war
between Great Britain and France
and, 254; Tsung-li Yamen estab-
lished to conduct foreign affairs of,
257 ; Burlingame appointed Ameri-
can minister to, 258 ; adoption of " a
policy of cooperation," by foreign
ministers to, 258 ; forbids entrance
of Confederate cruisers into its ports,
259 ; progress of, in Western learn-
ing, 261 ; Burlingame appointed en-
voy of, to Western powers, 263 ;
Burlingame embassy of, 263 ; re-
turn of embassy to, on death of Bur-
lingame, 264 ; treaty between United
States and (1868), 265 ; riots against
missionaries at Tientsin, in 1870,
268 ; regency of empress dowager
ceases, 268 ; audience question again
raised in, 269, 270 ; laborers im-
ported into Hawaii from, for sugar
plantations, 271 ; youths sent to
United States from, to be edu-
cated, 272; coolie trade of, 275;
indifference of government of, to
coolie trade, 277 ; commission sent
by, to investigate condition of coolies
in Cuba, 279 ; congressional consid-
eration of immigration from, 286 ;
commission sent to, to secure modi-
fication of treaty as to Chinese
immigration, 294 ; treaty between
United States and (1880), relative
to immigration, 294 ; United States
prohibits opium trade by treaty
with, 295 ; Great Britain declines
to entertain proposal of, to suppress
opium trade, 297 ; treaty between
United States and (1888), negotiated
but not finally ratified, 300 ; treaty
between United States and (1894),
302 ; attitude of, in regard to Chi-
nese immigration, 306; early rela-
tions of Korea with, 307 ; disclaims
control over Korea, 320; interdicts
Korea from sending minister to
United States, 327 ; inconsistent at-
titude of, toward Korea, 328 ; United
States opposes and ignores attitude
of, as to Korean ministers, 329 ; op-
poses Japanese attempt to secure
influence in Korea, 332 ; rivalry of,
and Japan in Korea causes war of
1894, 332; war of 1894 between
Japan and, see Chinese- Japanese
War ; places interests of its sub-
jects in Japan in hands of United
States, 335 ; cession to Japan by, of
Liaotung Peninsula, Formosa, and
Pescadores islands, 340 ; treaty of
peace between Japan and (1895),
340 ; part taken by Americans in
peace negotiations between Japan
and, 341 ; Gen. Grant aids in set-
tling dispute between Japan and,
covering Lew Chew Islands, 350;
Russia, Germany, and France com-
bine in favor of, after war with
Japan, 361 ; troubles in, closely fol-
lowing cession of Philippines to
United States, 407 ; Boxer outbreak
in, 408 ; anti-foreign sentiment in,
409 ; classes of foreigners in, 409 ;
missionary movement in, 409 ; pro-
gress of Christianity in, 410 ; anti-
Christian riots in, 410 ; usefulness of
missionaries socially and politically
in, 411 ; missions not chief cause of
Boxer uprising, 412 ; effect of West-
ern commerce on industries of, 412 ;
construction of railroads in, a cause
of anti-foreign feeling, 413 ; foreign
commercial invasion of, 413 ; politi-
cal aggressions in, most potent in
causing Boxer uprising, 414 ; seizure
of territory of, by Germany and Rus-
sia, 414 ; leases Wei-hai-wei to Great
Britain, 415 ; France secures terri-
torial concessions in southern pro-
vinces of, 415 ; progress of Boxer
uprising in, 4J7 ; reforms attempted
by emperor of, 417 ; emperor of,
practically dethroned and reformers
punished, 418 ; increase of anti-for-
eign sentiment in, 418 ; allies attack
Taku forts in, 419 ; Boxers in, seize
railroad stations, 41 9 ; German min-
ister to, murdered by Boxers, 419 ;
repulse of relief column on march
to Peking, 419 ; siege of legations in
Peking, 419 ; empress dowager and
government of, in sympathy with
Boxers, 421 ; change of policy of
United States in sending troops to,
INDEX
481
f
422 ; circular note of July 3, 1900,
as to intentions of United States in,
423 ; Rockhill, special commissioner
to, 424; appoints Li Hung Chang
and Prince Ching peace plenipoten-
tiaries, 424; four important decla-
rations by powers relating to, 425;
United States desires, to punish
Boxer leaders, not to surrender
them to allies, 425 ; Anglo-German
agreement in regard to, 426 ; French
propositions, basis of peace negotia-
tions with, 426 ; took no part in puni-
tive expeditions in, 426 ; joint note
of powers to, containing twelve de-
mands, 427 ; question of punishment
of Boxer leaders, in negotiations
with, 428; Rockhill assumes con-
duct of negotiations with, on depar-
ture of Conger, 428 ; question of in-
demnity to be paid by, in peace
negotiations, 429 ; United States fa-
vors lump sum indemnity from, 429 ;
peace agreement signed by, and al-
lies September 7, 1901, 430 ; provi-
sions of peace agreement with, 430 ;
indemnities to be paid by, 430 ; in-
fluence of United States in peace
negotiations between powers and,
431 ; circular note of United States
favoring " open door " policy in, 432 ;
United States favors view of, in rate
of exchange on indemnity payments,
433 ; place of, in world politics, 434 ;
Wensiang and. Sir Robert Hart on
latent powers of, 434; Russia, the
power most feared by, 436 ; text of
peace, agreement between powers
and (September 7, 1901), 441 ; text
of treatv on immigration between
United States and (1894), 450.
China trade, conduct of America, 30 ;
increase of, 36 ; congressional legis-
lation relating to, 38 ; affected by
war of 1812, 39; vexatious condi-
tions of, 56 ; withdrawal of mono-
poly of East India Company over,
57 ; Lord Napier, chief superintend-
ent of British, 57.
Chinese, view of foreigners, 43 ; as-
sumed contempt for trade, 60 ; con-
tempt of, for foreigners, 203.
Chinese emigration, in early times,
274; causes of, 274. See also
Coolie Trade; Coolies.
Chinese exclusion, congressional com-
mittee favors, 287 ; opposed by Sen-
ator Morton, 289; bill passed by
Congress favoring, vetoed by Presi-
dent Hayes, 293; bill passed by
Congress on, vetoed by President
Arthur, 299 ; limitation on, in treaty
of 1880, as to laborers in United
States, 300; provisions of treaty of
1888 relative to, 300 ; Scott Act re-
lating to, 301 ; presidential election
of 1888 and, 301; treaty of 1894
relative to, 302 ; increased sentiment
in United States in favor of, 302;
bill introduced in 57th Congress for,
302 ; debate upon, in 57th Congress,
303 ; bill for, in 57th Congress de-
feated, 304 ; change of public opin-
ion in United States, since 1868, in
regard to, 305.
Chinese immigration, to United States
commences, 282 ; Burlingame treaty
on, 282 ; opposition in California to,
285 ; Californian legislation against,
unconstitutional, 286 ; congressional
committee to investigate, 286 ; ma-
jority report of committee against,
287 ; report of committee on, 287 ;
Morton's report favorable to, 289;
bill restricting, vetoed by President,
293 ; treaty of 1880 relative to, 294;
commission sent to China to secure
restriction of, 294 ; treaty provision
for regulation of, by United States,
295 ; text of treaty of United States
( 1894) relating to, 450. See also Chi-
nese Emigration ; Chinese Exclusion ;
Coolie Trade ; Coolies.
Chinese-Japanese War, origin of, 332 ;
efforts of United States to prevent,
333 ; United States declines to join
in intervention to prevent, 334 ;
China and Japan place interest of
their subjects in other countries in
hands of United States, 335 ; two
Japanese spies at Shanghai, dur-
ing, 335 ; Great Britain again pro-
poses joint intervention in, 337 ;
Japanese successes in, 337 ; United
States declines to join powers in in-
tervention, 337 ; Japan declines to
accede to advice of United States to
stop, 338; United States becomes
medium of communication between
belligerents in, looking toward peace,
339 ; Chinese peace commission sent
to Hiroshima, during, 339; end of
war, 340 ; Japanese dismiss the Chi-
nese peace commission, 340; Wei-
hai-wei captured by Japanese, 340 ;
results of, 341 ; effect of, on interna-
482
INDEX
tional relations of Japan, 360 ; effect
of, on Chinese feeling toward for-
eigners, 413.
Chinese merchants, integrity of, 34.
Ching, Prince, appointed plenipoten-
tiary to negotiate peace with allies,
424.
Chinese Repository (footnote), 3.
Chosen, see Korea.
Choshiu, prince of, rebels against Sho-
gun and closes strait of Shimonoseki,
192.
Christianity, in Japan, 9; hostility of
Japanese government to, 200 ; in
Japan at time treaties were made,
200 ; United States protests against
hostility of Japanese government to
Christianity, 200 ; provision in Chi-
nese treaty of 1858 relative to tolera-
tion of, 243 ; first effort to introduce,
into Korea, 309 ; progress of, in
China, 410.
Christian missions, see Missions; Mis-
sionaries.
Christians, prosecution of, in Japan, 11 ;
insulting treatment of, in Japan,
145 ; persecution of, in Korea, 309.
Clayton, John M., negotiates for
United States treaty with Hawaii,
128.
Cochin-China, see Annam.
Co-hong at Canton, 34; system of,
abolished, 77.
Columbia River, discovery of, 99.
Commerce, of the East with the West,
2 ; restrictions on, of modern origin,
2 ; exposed condition of American, in
Pacific, 45 ; unprotected state of
American, 46 ; assumed contempt of
Chinese officials for, 60 ; increase of
American, in Pacific, 135 ; the prin-
cipal object of Christian nations with
the East, 412.
Comprador, 35.
Confederate cruisers, interfere with
whaling industry, 105 ; forbidden
entrance to Chinese ports, 259.
Conger, Edward H., United States
minister, conducts peace negotia-
tions with China after Boxer upris-
ing, 427 ; success of, in conducting
affairs in China, 428.
Consular courts, see Exterritoriality.
Coolies, treatment of, in Peru and
Cuba, 276 ; in Peru petition Ameri-
can legation for aid, 278. See also
Coolie Trade.
Coolie trade, origin and evils of, 275 ;
horrors of, 276 ; indifference of Chi-
nese government to, 277 ; proclama-
mation of gentry of Amoy against,
277 ; Chinese commission investi-
gates, with Cuba, 279 ; legislation
against, 280 ; relations of Americans
to, 281. See also Chinese Emigra-
tion ; Chinese Exclusion ; Coolies.
Copper trade of Japan with Europe, 8.
Corea, see Korea.
Creasy, predicts opening of Japan by
United States, 134.
Cuba, treatment of Chinese coolies in,
276 ; Chinese commission investi-
gates condition of coolies in, 279;
intolerable condition of affairs in,
400.
Cushing, Caleb, selected for Chinese
mission, 79 ; Webster's letter of in-
structions to, 80 ; negotiates treaty
of Wang Hiya, 86 ; on exterritorial-
ity, 88 ; Chinese criticism of, 90, 92 ;
biographical sketch of, 94.
Cushing embassy, personnel of, 79 ;
President's letter to emperor of
China carried by, 81 ; arrival of, at
Macao, 82; departure of, from
China, 93.
Dana, Richard H., on Christian mis-
sions in Hawaiian Islands, 107.
Davis, C. K., one of American com-
missioners to negotiate peace with
Spain, 403.
Davis, John W., United States com-
missioner to China, 96, 204 ; career
of, 205.
Day, W. R., one of American commis-
sioners to negotiate peace with Spain,
403.
De Long, C. E., American minister,
accompanies Iwakura embassy to
United States, 346.
De Tocqueville, on United States as a
world power, 135.
De Tromelin, Admiral, supports de-
mands of French consul at Hono-
lulu, 129.
Delano, Captain, visits Hawaiian Is-
lands, 101.
Denby, Charles, minister to China, on
audience question, 272; opinion of,
on Chinese exclusion, 304 ; favorable
comment of, on missionaries in China,
412 ; on Dr. Martin, 420.
Deshima, Dutch factory at, 11 ; de-
scription of island of, 12 ; foreign
women excluded from, 19.
INDEX
483
Dewey, Admiral, effect of victory of,
at Manila Bay on policy of United
States, 400 ; qualities of, as diplo-
matist, 400.
Diplomatic officers, relations between
naval officers and, 207.
Dole, S. B., president of Hawaiian pro-
visional government, 377.
Dolphin affair at Honolulu, 116.
Dutch, squadron arrives off Chinese
coast (1622), 4; occupy Pescadores
Islands, 4 ; colony on Formosa, 5 ;
reach Japan (1600), 7; allowed to
have factory at Deshima, 11 ; trade
with Japan at Deshima, 12 ; officials'
audience at Yedo, 14.
Dutch East India Company, Deshima,
14 ; charters American vessel to visit
Japan, 136.
East India Company, British, control
of China trade, 22 ; withdrawal of
monopoly of, over China trade, 57 ;
opium trade of, with China, 64 ; at-
tempt to open commerce with Korea,
308.
Elgin, Lord, negotiates treaty with
Japan (1858), 183 ; opinion of Arrow
War, 224 ; British representative in
China, 232 ; coercive measures of, in
securing treaty with China, 241.
E-liang, Viceroy, receives Commis-
sioner Marshall and accepts Presi-
dent's letter to emperor, 206.
Embassv, Chinese, to Western nations
(1420), 3; Portuguese, to China
(1517), 4; from Japanese princes
visits Pope, 9 ; Macartney, to China,
22 ; of Lord Amherst to China (1815),
25 ; of Edmund Roberts (1832), 46 ;
Cushing, to China, 79 ; French, ar-
rival of, at Canton, 80 ; Macartney,
secretaries of, 109 ; Amherst, Mor-
rison, secretary of, 110 ; Roberts,
J. R. Morrison interpreter of, 110 ;
from Japan to United States (1860),
184 ; from Korea to the United
States, 326 ; Burlingame, of China
to the Western powers, 263 ; Japa-
nese, of 1872, to the United States
and Europe, 345 ; Hawaiian, to
Samoa, 374.
" Ever Victorious Army," organized
and led by General Ward, 212 ; de-
cisive influence of, on Taiping Re-
bellion, 212 ; Colonel Gordon suc-
ceeds General Ward in command of,
212.
Everett, Alexander H., United States
commissioner to China, 96; letters
of credence to Japan given, 142.
Exclusion of Chinese, see Chinese Ex-
clusion.
Exclusive policy of China strength-
ened, 64.
Expansion, of United States in the Pa-
cific prophesied, 135 ; United States
intended no, at commencement of
Spanish War, 399; Seward prophe-
sies, of United States, 401.
Exterritoriality, in treaty of Wang
Hiya, 87 ; principle of, 87 ; origin of,
88 ; first application of, in China, 92 ;
not reserved by United States in first
treaty with Hawaii, 114; limited in
treaty between Korea and United
States, 325 ; in Japanese treaties,
344 ; injustice of practice of, in
Japan, 354 ; partiality shown by
consuls in Japan in practice of, 354 ;
extreme application of, in Japan in
regard to postal service and quaran-
tine, 355 ; proposed modification of,
in Japan, 358 ; abolished in Japan,
363.
Eye (Superintendent), 59.
Factories, foreign, at Canton, 42.
Feudal system of Japan abolished,
199.
Filibustering, prevalence of, in United
States, 365.
Foote, Lucius H., United States minis-
ter to Korea, 326.
Formosa, Dutch colony on, 5 ; Minister
Parker suggests occupation of, by
United States, 229; cession of, by
China to Japan, 340.
France, early relations of, with Siam,
46 ; treaty between China and (1844),
95 ; threatens independence of Ha-
waiian Islands (1839), 119 ; demands
of, on Hawaii, 120 ; Hawaiian inde-
pendence recognized by Great Brit-
ain and, 124 ; difficulties of Hawaii
with, 129 ; Judd sent as special Ha-
waiian commissioner to, 129 ; sends
special commissioner to Hawaii
(1850), 130; treaty between Japan
and (1858), 183 ; war against China
by England and (1857), 233 ; treaty
between China and (1858), 238, 242 ;
naval expedition of, to Korea, 309 ;
naval expedition of, forced to retire
from Korea, 310 ; treaty between
Korea and (1886), 331 ; secures ter-
484
INDEX
ritorial concessions in southern China,
415.
Frye, W. P., one of American corumis-
missioners to negotiate peace with
Spain, 403.
Fur trade, American, with China, 31 ;
origin and growth of, 99; method
of conducting, 100.
General Sherman, schooner, hurned
and crew killed by Koreans, 310.
Genoa, duke of, attempts to communi-
cate with king of Korea, 322.
Germany, attempt of, to enter into ne-
gotiations with Korea, 318 ; treaty
between Korea and (1883), 327 ; con-
sul of, violates Japanese quarantine
on plea of exterritorial right, 355 ;
influence and interest of, in Samoa,
390 ; consul of, assumes control of
Samoa, 390 ; high-handed course of,
in Samoa, 391 ; seizure of Kiaochau
by, 414 ; minister of, to China mur-
dered by Boxers, 419 ; proposes
China surrender to allies leaders of
Boxer uprising, 425 ; agreement be-
tween Great Britain and, as to China,
426.
Gibson, prime minister of Hawaii, his
career, 373.
Glynn, Commander, sent to Japan to
demand surrender of shipwrecked
Americans, 144 ; confers with Presi-
dent on opening of Japan, 146.
Grant, General U. S., note on opinion
of, as to military power of Japan,
342 ;* visit of, to japan in 1879, 350 ;
aids in settling dispute between
China and Japan concerning Lew
Chew Islands, 350.
Gray, Captain, discovers Columbia
River, 99.
Gray, George, one of American com-
missioners to negotiate peace with
Spain, 403.
Great Britain, vessels of, arrive in
China (1635), 5 ; subjects of, arrive
in Japan (1613), 8; increased com-
mercial supremacy of, during eigh-
teenth century, 22 ; sends Lord Ma-
cartney as ambassador to China, 22 ;
sends embassy to China (1815), 25 ;
forced to surrender opium at Canton,
69 ; treaty between China and (1842),
71 ; sends consul-general to Hawaiian
Islands, 1 13 ; Lord Russell compels
Hawaii to negotiate treaty with, 121 ;
Hawaiian independence recognized
by France and, 124 ; Paulet compels
cession of Hawaiian Islands to, 125 ;
cession of Hawaiian Islands to, dis-
avowed, 126 ; new treaty agreed
upon by Judd commission with, 130 ;
treaty between Japan and (1854),
166; treaty between Japan and
(1858), 183 ; demands and secures
from Japan indemnity for murder
of Richardson, 189 ; cause of Arrow
War between China and, 223 ; war
against China by France and (1857),
233 ; treaty between China and
(1858), 238, 242; legislation of,
against coolie trade, 280 ; declines to
entertain proposal to suppress opium
trade, 297 ; attitude of, regarding
opium trade in China, 299 ; futile at-
tempt of, to open intercourse with
Korea, 321 ; treaty between Korea
and (1883), 327 ; leads in opposition
to revision of Japanese treaties, 356 ;
prevents revision of Japanese treat-
ies, 359 ; finally favors revision of
Japanese treaties, 361 ; treaty be-
tween Japan and (1894), as to revi-
sion of treaties, 361 ; attempts to se-
cure joint guaranty of neutrality and
independence of Hawaii, 372 ; China
leases Wei-hai-wei to, 415 ; agree-
ment between Germany and, as to
China, 426 ; liberal trade policy of,
in the Orient, 436 ; friendship be-
tween United States and, 437.
Gros, Baron, French representative in
China, 232.
Gutzlaff, Dr. Charles, secretary for
British government during Opium
War, 110 ; with Morrison's voyage to
Japan, 137 ; on British expedition to
Korea, 308.
Harris, Townsend, early life and fitness
of, for Japanese mission, 172 ; ap-
pointed consul-general to Japan, 172 ;
arrives at Shimoda, 173 ; Japanese
attempt to secure departure of, 173 ;
experiences of, at Shimoda, 174 ; ne-
gotiates treaty between Japan and
United States (1857), 175; hermit
life of, at Shimoda, 175 ; journey of,
to Yedo to deliver President's letter,
176 ; observance of Sunday by, 178 ;
entrance of, into Yedo, 178 ; audi-
ence of Shogun by, 178; details of
treaty negotiations of, with Japanese
commissioners, 180 ; success of, in
treaty negotiations, 181 ; Seward's
INDEX
485
remarks on retirement of, as minister,
185 ; Japanese appreciation of ser-
vices of, 185 ; great diplomatic ser-
vices of, 186 ; puzzled at relations of
Mikado and Shogun, 187 ; opposed
to exterritoriality in Japan, 352;
tariff provision inserted by, in Japa-
nese treaty, 353.
Hart, Sir Robert, services of, to China,
and his treatment by Boxers, 420;
views of, on the menace of China to
the peace of the world, 435.
Hawaiian Islands, discovery of, 98;
situation and resources of, 98 ; Amer-
ican fur traders at, 99; Vancouver
visits, 100; sandalwood trade of,
101 ; first whale ship arrives at, 102 ;
increase of whaling vessels at, 104 ;
condition of, at time of discovery,
105 ; all under rule of Kamehameha,
106 ; American missionaries sent to,
106; success of Christian missions,
106 ; results of missionary work in,
108 ; commercial importance of, to
United States, 111 ; attempts of for-
eign powers to secure possession of,
111 ; Vancouver attempts to annex,
111 ; Earanoff (Russian) attempts to
annex, 112; first consul of United
States to, 113 ; Charlton, British con-
sul-general to, 113 ; treaty negotiated
between United States and (1826),
114; lawlessness in, 114; missionary
and anti-missionary parties in, 115 ;
disgraceful proceedings of crew of
Dolphin in, 116 ; visit of the Vin-
cennes to, 117 ; relation of foreigners
to local laws of, 1 18 ; France threat-
ens independence of (1839), 119 ; Ro-
man Catholic and Protestant contro-
versy in, 119; French troops landed
at, 120 ; treaty forced by French
authorities upon (1839), 120 ; Lord
Russell compels, to negotiate treaty
with Great Britain, 121 ; commis-
sion sent from, to Europe and United
States, 121 ; President's message
concerning, 122 ; policy of United
States toward, declared by Webster,
123 ; joint declaration of Great Brit-
ain and France recognizing independ-
ence of, 124 ; Lord Paulet threatens
independence of, 124 ; Paulet com-
pels cession of, to Great Britain, 125 ;
proclamation of king on cession of,
to Great Britain, 125 ; occupation
of, by British forces, 125 ; Admiral
Thomas disavows cession of, to Great
Britain, 126 ; restoration of, to king,
126 ; controversy of, with United
States over criminal trials, 127 ;
treaty relations of, unsatisfactory,
127 ; treaty of United States with
(1849), 128; difficulties of, with
France, 129 ; Judd sent to France as
special commissioner of, 129 ; Judd
commission from, agrees upon new
treaty with Great Britain, 130 ; spe-
cial French commissioner sent to
(1850), 130 ; provisional cession of,
to United States, 130 ; settlement of
French difficulty with, 131 ; Roman
Catholics granted liberty in, 131 ;
ultimate annexation of, to United
States indicated, 365 ; fear that,
might be occupied by American fili-
busters, 365; rapid decrease of na-
tives in, 366 ; negotiation under Sec-
retary Marcy of annexation treaty
with, 366 ; death of Kamehameha
III. during negotiation for annexa-
tion of, to United States, 367 ; reci-
procity treaties of (1855 and 1867),
with United States fail of ratifica- ,
tion, 367 ; reciprocity treaty between
United States and (1876), 369 ; terri-
torial integrity of, secured, 369 ;
final result of reciprocity treaty, an-
nexation of, to United States, 370 ;
sugar-growing in, 370 ; progress and
prosperity of, 370 ; importation of
Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese
into, for sugar plantations, 371 ; re-
newal of reciprocity treaty between
United States and (1884), 371 ; trans-
fer Pearl Harbor to United States
for a naval station, 371 ; United
States declines to join in guaranty
of neutrality and independence of,
372 ; United States withholds ap-
proval of alliance between Samoa
and, 373 ; ambitious schemes of Kala-
kaua, king of, 373 ; career of Gib-
son, prime minister of, 373 ; embassy
from, to Samoa, 374 ; invited to take
part in International American Con-
ference of 1890, 374 ; Kalakaua dies
and Liliuokalani succeeds to throne
of, 375 ; attempted coup d'etat of
queen of, in January, 1893, 376 ; re-
volution of January 16-17, 1893, in,
376 ; monarchy overthrown and pro-
visional government established in,
377 ; treaty of annexation between
United States and, negotiated Feb-
ruary, 1893, 377 ; annexation treaty
486
INDEX
of, withdrawn by President Cleve-
land, 878; J. H. Blount, commis-
sioner to investigate revolution and
conditions in, 378 ; American minister
to provisional goverment of, directed
to negotiate with queen for her re-
storation, 378 ; negotiations of Amer-
ican minister with queen and provi-
sional government of, 379 ; report
of Senator Morgan on revolution in,
380; constitutional convention of,
380 ; republican constitution of, pro-
claimed July 4, 1894, 381 ; unex-
ampled prosperity of, under the Re-
public, 381 ; annexation treaty be-
tween United States and, negotiated
in 1897, 381 ; Japanese opposition to
annexation of, to United States, 382 ;
predominance of Japanese in popula-
tion of, 382 ; joint resolution for
annexation to United States passed
July, 1898, 383 ; organized as a terri-
tory of United States, 383 ; reasons
for annexation of, 384 ; text of joint
resolution of Congress for annexing,
463.
Hermit Kingdom, The, see Korea.
Hong merchants at Canton, 34 ; rela-
tions of, with Lord Napier, 58.
Hoppo, Chinese official in charge of
trade at Canton, 35.
Humboldt, on influence of Isthmus of
Panama on the Far East, 133.
I Ho Tuan, see Boxers.
Ii-Kamon, Japanese chief minister of
state, directs signature of Harris
treaty, 182.
Immigration of Chinese, see Chinese
Immigration.
Imperial College, established, 261 ; Dr.
Martin, president of, 261.
Inouye Kaoru, Count, early visit of, to
Europe, 195 ; one of Japanese com-
missioners to negotiate treaty with
Korea, 320 ; proposed compromise
by, of 'exterritoriality in Japan, 358 ;
public feeling in Japan compels, to
resign portfolio, 358.
International American Conference of
1890, Hawaii invited to take part
in, 374.
Ismailoff , Russian ambassador to China,
19 ; reception of, at Peking, 20.
Ito, Marquis, early visit of, to Europe,
195 ; negotiates treaty with Li Hung
Chang, 332 ; one of Japanese peace
commissioners at Shimonoseki, 340 ;
vice-ambassador of Iwakura em-
bassy, 345 ; spokesman of Iwakura
embassy, 346; on commercial pro-
gress of Japan, 435.
Iwakura embassy, constitued, 345 ;
Americans accompany, 346; recep-
tion of, in United States, 346 ; pub-
lic functions at Washington in honor
of, 347 ; negotiations of, with secre-
tary of state, 347 ; fruitless visit of,
to European capitals, 348.
Iwakura, Prince, Japanese ambassador
to United States and Europe, 345 ;
character of, 348.
Jackson, President, letter of, to
Kamehameha III., 117 ; letter from
Kamehameha III. to, 118.
Japan, early relations of, with China
and Korea, 2 ; early commerce of,
2 ; Pinto in 1542 discovers, 7 ; Dutch
vessels reach (1600), 7 ; Spaniards
reach, 7; English arrive in (1613),
8; early European trade with, 8
early liberal policy of, 9 ; Xavier
and Jesuits arrive in, 9 ; nobles of
visit Pope (1582), 9; edict of Sho
gun expelling priests from, 10 ; re
bellion of native Christians in, 11
exclusive and seclusive policy estab-
lished in, 11 ; early trade with, very
profitable, 12 ; prosperity of in 17th
century, 16 ; opening of, 133 ; isth-
mus of Panama, bulwark of inde-
pendence of, 133 ; opening of, se-
quence to operations in China, 134 ;
opening of, by United States, pre-
dicted by Creasy, 134 ; first Amer-
ican vessel to visit, 136 ; American
attempts to open trade with, 136 ;
voyage of the Morrison (1837) to,
137 ; voyage of the Manhattan
(1845) to, 139; Roberts accredited to,
but did not proceed there, 140, 141 ;
presents carried by Roberts intended
for emperor of, 141 ; resolution in
Congress in 1845 in relation to, 142 ;
Commodore Biddle attempts to open
communication with, 143 ; Commo-
dore Biddle insulted on expedition to,
143 ; Dr. Parker reports harsh treat-
ment of shipwrecked Americans in,
144 ; the Preble visits, to demand sur-
render of shipwrecked Americans,
144 ; cruel treatment of shipwrecked
Americans in, 145 ; cause of deter-
mination of United States to force
treaty on, 145 ; American whalers in
INDEX
487
waters of, 145 ; necessity of coaling
station in, between San Francisco
and China, 146; expedition to, see
Japan Expedition ; Perry, Matthew
Calbraith; Aulick succeeded by
Perry in command of Japan expe-
dition, 147 ; consternation in, caused
by arrival of Perry, 151 ; copies of
President's letter sent to principal
daimios of, 159 ; preparations of, for
return of Perry, 159 ; negotiation of
first treaty with, 162 ; treaty be-
tween United States and (1854), 164,
165 ; results of Japan expedition on,
166; treaty between Great Britain
and (1854), 166 ; treaties of, with
other nations, 166 ; appreciation of
Commodore Perry's service by, 168 ;
first American vessel arrives in, af-
ter treaty is signed, 171 ; Townsend
Harris appointed consul-general to,
172; opposition to Consul-General
Harris in, 175 ; treaty of United
States with (1857), 175 ; delivery of
President's letter to emperor of, by
Harris, 176 ; treaty between United
States and (1858), 182 ; treaty be-
tween Great Britain and (1858), 183 ;
treaties of, with Russia and France
(1858), 183; embassy from, to
United States (1860), 184; relations
of Mikado and Shogun in, 187 ; anti-
foreign feeling in, 188 ; murder of
secretary of United States legation
in, 188; murder of Richardson in,
189; indemnity demanded of, for
murder of Richardson, 189 ; con-
tinued anti-foreign demonstrations
in, 189; American legation in,
burned by rioters, 189 ; American
minister retires to Yokohama at
request of government of, 190 ;
indemnities paid by, for burning
of American legation and murder
of secretary, 190 ; Shogun issues
order closing ports and expel-
ling foreigners from, 190 ; Ameri-
can minister protests against order
expelling foreigners from, 191 ; co-
operative policy of United States
in, 191 ; Pruyn induces withdrawal
of order against foreigners in, 192 ;
Prince of Choshiu closes strait of
Shimonoseki in, 192 ; indemnity for
Shimonoseki affair paid by, 194;
United States returns share of Shi-
monoseki indemnity to, 194 ; Ito and
Inouye secretly leave, for Europe,
195 ; effect of Richardson and Shi-
monoseki affairs on policy of, 195;
Mikado sanctions treaties between
powers and, 195 ; repeal of decree
prohibiting Japanese from leaving,
197 ; return to Yedo of American
minister to, 197 ; contest between
Shogun and Mikado for government
of, 197 ; Shogun surrenders govern-
ment of, to Mikado, 198 ; Shogun' s
followers continue civil war in, 198 ;
Mikado grants audience to foreign
ministers to, 198; Mutsuhito be-
comes Mikado of, 199 ; daimios of,
surrender feudal rights to Mikado,
199 ; native Christians in, when treat-
ies made, 200 ; hostility of govern-
ment to native Christians in, 200 ;
United States protests against hos-
tility to Christianity by government
of, 200; effect of reforms on inter-
national relations of, 201 ; United
States foremost in development of,
201 ; early relations of Korea with,
307 ; attempt of, to reinstate suzer-
ainty over Korea, 319 ; treaty be-
tween Korea and (1876), 320; Ko-
rean embassy to, 321 ; attempt of,
to secure predominant influence in
Korea, 331 ; rivalry of, and China
in Korea causes war of 1894, 332;
places interests of subjects in China
in hands of United States, 335;
war of 1894 between China and, see
Chinese- Japanese War; treaty of
peace between China and (1895),
340 ; cession to, by China of Liao-
tung Peninsula, Formosa, and Pes-
cadores Islands, 340 ; part taken by
Americans in peace negotiations be-
tween China and, 341 ; letter of
thanks from emperor of, to Presi-
dent, 341 ; note on Gen. Grant's
opinion of military power of, 342 ;
exterritorial and tariff provisions of
treaties with, 344 ; Iwakura embassy
to secure revision of treaties with,
345 ; failure of Iwakura embassy to
secure abandonment of exterritorial-
ity by powers in, 348 ; course to be
pursued by, on failure of Iwakura
embassy, 349 ; reforms instituted in,
349 ; part taken by Americans in
reformation of, 350; visit of Gen.
Grant to, in 1879,350; progress of
reforms in, 351 ; again, in 1878,
attempts to secure revision of the
treaties, 352 ; injustice of tariff pro-
488
INDEX
visions in treaties with, 352 ; tariff
provision in Harris treaty beneficial
to, 853 ; tariff provision in British
treaty, disastrous to, 353 ; injustice
and partiality of consular courts in,
354 ; extreme application of exterri-
toriality in regard to postal service
and quarantine in, 355 ; unavailing
efforts of, to secure revision of treat-
ies, 356 ; Great Britain leads in op-
position to revision of treaties of,
356; independent action of United
States in regard to treaty revision
with, 357 ; treaty between United
States and (1878), 357 ; proposes
modified form of exterritoriality,
358; public feeling in, compels
Inouye to resign, 358 ; extradition
treaty between United States and
(1886) 358; further efforts of, by
Okuma to secure treaty revision pre-
vented by Great Britain, 359; pro-
mulgation of constitution of, 360;
effect of war with China upon inter-
national relations of, 360 ; treaty be-
tween Great Britain and (1894), as
to revision of treaties, 361 ; opposi-
tion of foreign residents in, to treaty
revision, 362 ; freed from exercise
of exterritorial rights by the powers,
363 ; extraordinary progress of, 364 ;
laborers imported into Hawaii from,
for sugar plantations, 371 ; protests
against annexation of Hawaii to
United States, 382 ; wonderful de-
velopment of, as a world power, 435 ;
Russia, the power most feared by,
436 ; text of treaty of, with United
States (1895), 453.
Japan expedition, determined upon,
146 ; Aulick selected to command,
146 ; preparations for, 147 ; Perry
succeeds Aulick in command of,
147 ; action of Dutch in relation
to, 149 ; functions attending depar-
ture of, 149 ; Dr. Williams, chief
interpreter of, 150 ; enters Bay of
Yedo, July 8, 1853, 150; conster-
nation caused by arrival of, at Yedo,
151 ; object of, explained to Japa-
nese, 152 ; negotiations of, with gov-
ernor of Uraga, 153 ; surveying
parties from, advance toward Yedo,
154 ; delivers President's letter to
Japanese princes, 156 ; orderly con-
duct of members of, towards natives,
158 ; departs from Bay of Yedo,
158 ; proceeds to China, 159 ; Japa-
nese preparations for return of, 159 ;
Perry determines to hasten return
of, to Japan, 160 ; reenters Bay of
Yedo, February 12, 1854, 160; de-
livery of presents brought by, 163 ;
Japanese presents delivered to, 163 ;
banquet given Japanese officials by,
164 ; Japanese dinner given, 165 ;
success of, 166 ; reception of treaty
negotiated by, in Europe and Amer-
ica, 167 ; Humphrey Marshall's opin-
ion of proposed, 207. See also Perry,
Matthew Calbraith.
Jarvis, John J., Hawaiian commis-
sioner, negotiates treaty (1849) with
United States, 128.
Jones, Captain Thomas ap Catesby,
negotiates treaty for United States
with Hawaii, 114; arbitrates be-
tween missionary and anti-mission-
ary parties in Hawaii, 115.
Jones, John C, consul of United States
to Hawaii, 113.
Judd, Dr., sent as special Hawaiian
commissioner to France, 129.
Kagoshima, bombarded and burned by
British squadron, 189,
Kalakaua, visits Europe, Asia, and
United States, 373 ; ambitious ideas
of, 373; death of, in 1891, 375.
Kamehameha, king of island of Ha-
waii, 105 ; becomes ruler of entire
group, 106.
Kamehameha III., President's letter to,
117 ; letter to President from, 118;
death of, during negotiations for an-
nexation to United States, 367.
Kang-wa, captured and burned by
French, 309.
Kauai, Hawaiian Island of, placed
under Russian protection, 112; Rus-
sian fort on, destroyed by order of
Kamehameha, 113.
Kearny, Commodore, course pursued
by, during Opium War, 74 ; secures
American interests in China, 75 ;
protests against British occupation
of Hawaii, 125.
Kendrick, Captain, voyages of, 99.
Kiakta, Russia fur trade at, 31.
Kiaochau, seizure of, by Germany, 414.
Kido, vice-ambassador of Iwakura em-
bassy, 345.
Kioto, Mikado's court at, 187 ; Shogun
visits Mikado at, 190.
Kiying, Chinese high commissioner to
negotiate treaty with Cushing, 85 ;
INDEX
489
at Tientsin in 1858 during negotia-
tion of treaties, 239 ; character and
death of, 240.
Korea, early relations of, with Japan,
2 ; resolution in Congress in 1845 in
relation to, 142 ; styled " Naboth's
Vineyard of the Far East," 307 ; early
relations of, with China and Japan,
307 ; British East India Company
attempts to open commerce -with,
308 ; first effort to introduce Chris-
tianity into, 309; persecution of
Christians in, 309 ; French naval ex-
pedition to, 309 ; French forces com-
pelled to retire from, 310; the Gen-
eral Sherman burned and crew killed
in, 310; kindly treatment of ship-
wrecked Americans in, 311 ; Consul-
General Seward advises attempt to
open relations with, 312 ; American
minister to China directed to nego-
tiate with, 313 ; naval expedition of
United States to, 313 ; notified by
Tsung-li Yamen of American expe-
dition, 314 ; American expedition
appears off coast of, 314; American
vessels fired upon by forts of, 314 ;
on failure of, to apologize Americans
destroy forts, 315 ; communication of
official of, with Minister Low, 315 ;
failure of American expedition to,
due to incorrect information, 316;
Consul-General Seward's informa-
tion as to, from adventurers, 317 ;
attempts of Russia and Germany to
enter into negotiations with, 318 ; at-
tempt of Japan to reinstate suzer-
ainty over, 319 ; independence of,
recognized by Japan, 320 ; treaty be-
tween Japan and (1876), 320 ; efforts
of, to prevent strangers from visiting
shores, 320 ; China disclaims control
over, 320 ; embassy of to Japan, 321 ;
visited by Russian, British, and
French naval vessels, 321; British
failure to open intercourse with, 321 ;
duke of Genoa attempts to commu-
nicate with king of, 322 ; delegation
from, to Li Hung Chang advised to
make treaty with United States, 323 ;
Senator Sargent introduces resolu-
tion to send commissioner to, 323 ;
Shufeldt makes futile visit to, 324 ;
United States legation at Peking in-
formed of willingness of, to make
treaty, 324 ; treaty between United
States and (1882), 324; exterritorial
rights of United States in, 325 ; Foote,
first American minister to, 326 ; em-
bassy from, sent to United States,
326; treaties negotiated by Great
Britain and Germany with, 327 ; ap-
points minister to United States, 327 ;
China interdicts, from sending min-
ister to United States, 327 ; incon-
sistent attitude of China toward,328 ;
China claims subordination of min-
isters of, 329 ; United States opposes
and ignores China's attitude as to
ministers of, 329 ; friendly attitude
of, toward United States, 329 ;
American aid in transformation of,
330 ; missions in, 330 ; treaty be-
tween France and (1886), 331 ; Jap-
anese attempt to secure predominant
influence in, 331 ; Japanese and Chi-
nese intrigues in, 332 ; China resists
Japanese attempt to secure influence
in, 332 ; rivalry of China and Japan
causes war of 1894, 332 ; cause of
Chinese-Japanese War, see Chinese-
Japanese War; appeals to United
States to intervene to secure its inde-
pendence, 333 ; independence of,
recognized by Chinese-Japanese
peace treaty, 340 ; new danger to,
after Chinese-Japanese War, 342.
Kotou or kowtow, Ismailoff performs,
20 ; Lord Amherst refuses to per-
form, 25 ; Minister Ward declines to
perform, 250.
Krusenstern, attempt of, to trade at
Canton, 21 ; opinion of, of American
enterprise, 29.
Kung, Prince, president of Tsung-li
Yamen, 256 ; character of, 256.
Kweiliang receives from Ward Presi-
dent's letter for delivery to emperor,
251 ; member of Tsung-li Yamen,
257.
Lagoda, the, imprisonment of crew of,
by Japanese, 144.
Land of the Morning Calm, see Korea.
L'Artemise affair, 119.
Lawrence, the, imprisonment of crew
of, by Japanese, 144.
Letter of sultan of Muscat to Presi-
dent, 53 ; of President to Kameha-
meha III., 117 ; of Kamehameha III.
to President Jackson, 118; from
President to emperor of Japan de-
livered at Uraga, 156 ; of Li Hung
Chang regarding opium trade, 297.
Lew Chew Islands, Perry recommends
occupation of, by United States, 229 ;
490
INDEX
Gen. Grant aids Japan and China in
settling dispute concerning, 350.
Liaotung Peninsula cession of, by
China to Japan, 340.
Liholiho, king of Hawaiian Islands,
106.
Li Hung Chang, letter of, regarding
opium trade, 297 ; advises Koreans
to make treaty with United States,
323 ; announces China's policy as to
Korean ministers, 328 ; Chinese peace
commissioner at Shimonoseki, 340 ;
appointed plenipotentiary to nego-
tiate peace with allies, 424 ; on cause
of Boxer uprising, 416 ; removed as
member of Tsung-li Yamen, 417.
Liliuokalani succeeds Kalakaua as
ruler of Hawaii, 375 ; character of,
375; attempted coup d'etat of, in
January. 1893, 376 ; dethroned, 377 ;
declares that she would behead revo-
lutionists, if restored to power, 379.
Lin, Chinese commissioner to suppress
opium trade, 68; destroys opium
seized, 70.
Linguist, in trade at Canton, 34.
Lodge, Senator, argument of, for Chi-
nese exclusion, 303.
Looting, of Cantonese palaces by Brit-
ish (1856), 228.
Luzon, Island of, American commis-
sioners instructed to demand cession
of, 403.
Macartney, Lord, embassy of, to China,
22.
Macao, Portuguese establishment at,
33.
Malietoa, king of Samoa, 389; and
chiefs accept Berlin Act, 394 ; death
of, 395.
Malietoa Tanu declared king of Samoa
by chief justice, 396.
Manhattan, The, enters Bay of Yedo
(1845), 139.
Manila Bay, effect of victory of, on
policy of United States, 400.
Marcy, William L., conservative policy
of, as Secretary of State, in relation
to China, 229 ; directs American
minister to propose annexation of
Hawaii, 366.
Marshall, Humphrey, United States
commissioner to China, 205 ; efforts
of, to secure interview with Chinese
commissioner, 205; received by
E-liang, 206; disagreements be-
tween, and Commodores Aulick and
Perry, 206; futile efforts of, to in-
terview Commissioner Yeh, 213 ; re-
call of, 213.
Martin, Dr. W. A. P., on the Opium
War, 73 ; assists in negotiation of
treaty of 1858 between China and
United States, 239 ; president of
Imperial College, 261 ; treatment of,
during Boxer uprising, 420.
Mataafa, rival for Samoan kingship,
390.
McCarthy, Justin, on the Opium War,
74.
McCulloch, Hugh, opinion of, as to Dr.
Peter Parker, 230.
McKinley, President, problems to be
solved by, at close of Spanish War,
402 ; change of policy of, as to Phil-
ippines, 404.
McLane, Robert M., minister of United
States, visits headquarters of Taiping
leader, 210; visit of, misinterpreted
as act of homage, 210 ; views of,
as to Taiping Rebellion, 211 ; indig-
nation of, at treatment by Chinese
high commissioner, 214 ; proceeds to
Shanghai, 215 ; communicates with
Viceroy E-liang, 215 ; resigns as
minister to China, 219.
Mikado, relations between Shogun and,
187, 196; Shogun visits, at Kioto,
190 ; sanctions treaties of Japan with
powers, 195; Mutsuhito becomes,
199 ; Shogun surrenders government
to, 198 ; grants audience to ministers
and transfers capital to Yedo, 198 ;
takes the " charter oath," 199.
Missionaries, early French, to China, 6 ;
edict expelling Jesuit, from Japan,
10 ; American, sent to Hawaiian Is-
lands, 106 ; success of, in Hawaiian
Islands, 107 ; diversity of opinion as
to, in the Orient, 109; services of,
as interpreters to embassies, 109 ;
and their opponents in Hawaii, 115 ;
Tientsin riots against French, 268 ;
Korea visited by French, 309 ; in
Samoa, 386 ; usefulness of, in China,
socially and politically, 411.
Missions, in Korea, 330 ; French inter-
pretation of treaty provision relative
to, in Korea, 331 ; in China, 409.
See also Christianity ; Missionaries.
Morgan, John T., report of, upon Ha-
waiian revolution, in the Senate, 380.
Morrison, J. R., services as interpreter
to Roberts's embassy, 110.
Morrison, Dr. Robert, interpreter of
INDEX
491
Amherst embassy, 110; invited to
come to China by D. W. C. Olyphant,
137.
Morrison, The, voyage of, to Japan
(1837), 137.
Morton, Oliver P., chairman of com-
mittee of Congress on Chinese immi-
gration, 286; death of, and report
in favor of Chinese immigration, 289.
Muscat, Roberts sent on mission to, 46 ;
extent of sultanate of, 51 ; reception
of Roberts at, 52 ; treaty of United
States with, 52 ; letter of sultan of,
to President, 53.
Mutsu, Count, one of Japanese peace
commissioners at Shimonoseki, 340.
Mutsuhito, becomes Mikado, 199.
Nagasaki, location of Dutch factory,
11; Preble enters harbor of (1849),
144.
Nanking, capture of, by Taipings, 208 ;
Roberts visits Taiping court at, 210.
Napier, Lord, chief superintendent of
British trade in China, 57 ; attempts
to communicate with Chinese offi-
cials at Canton, 58 ; governor's letter
refusing to receive, 59 ; requested
to withdraw to Macao, 60 ; commu-
nications of, with Chinese governor,
61 ; withdraws from Canton, 62 ;
illness and death of, at Macao, 62.
Naval officers, relations between diplo-
matic officers and, 207.
Nevius, Dr., on the Opium War, 73.
Northwest coast, American trade be-
tween China and, 31 ; American
ships on, 99.
Okuba, vice-rmbassador of Iwakura
embassy, 345.
Okuma, Count, succeeds Inouye as
minister of foreign affairs of Japan,
359 ; opinion of future of Japan, 436.
Olyphant & Co., send vessel to Japan,
137.
Olyphant, D. W. C, American mer-
chant at Canton, 137.
" Open Door ' ' policy, Secretary Hay's
circular note in favor of, in China,
432.
Opium, Chinese on use of, 65 ; deliv-
ered by British superintendent to
Chinese, 69 ; seized and destroyed
by Chinese, 70.
Opium trade, commencement of, in
China, 64; imperial edict (1796)
against, 65 ; illicit, in China, 66 ;
large increase in, 66 ; large profits
from, 66 ; increased efforts of Chinese
to suppress, 67 ; increase of illicit, 67 ;
Lin, Chinese commissioner to sup-
press, 68 ; stringent prohibitions
against, 68 ; Chinese close foreign
factories to stop, 69; not adjusted
by Anglo-Chinese treaty (1842), 71 ;
United States by treaty with China
prohibits, 295; communication of
W. N. Pethick on, 295 ; Great Brit-
ain declines to entertain proposal of
China to prohibit, 297 ; Li Hung
Chang's letter regarding, 297 ; op-
position of United States to, 298;
Lord Elgin opposes prohibition
clause in United States treaty of
1858, 299.
Opium War, causes of, 64 ; course of,
70 ; moral aspects of, 72.
Pacific Ocean, European occupation of
islands of, 26 ; whale fishery in, 104 ;
Seward's prophecy as to importance
of, 135.
Pacific Railroad, Chinese laborers work
on, 283.
Pago Pago Harbor, cession of, by Sa-
moa to United States not acted on
by Senate, 388 ; Tutuila, in which is,
transferred to United States, 397.
Palmerston, Lord, on ultimate annex-
ation of Hawaii to United States,
368.
Panama, Isthmus of, bulwark of China
and Japan, 133.
Parker, Dr. Peter, urges in 1841 send-
ing minister to China, 77 ; secretary
of Cushing embassy, 79 ; on Morri-
son's voyage to Japan, 138 ; reports
harsh treatment of shipwrecked
Americans in Japan, 144 ; charge"
d'affaires of United States in China,
205 ; again becomes charge", 219 ;
visits United States, 221 ; appointed
commissioner to China, 221 ; indig-
nation at Yeh in avoiding interview,
221 ; plan of, to avoid war in China,
229 ; retires as minister to China,
230 ; life of, after retirement, 230 ;
McCulloch's opinion of, 230.
Paulet, Lord George, threatens Ha-
waiian independence, 124 ; compels
cession of Hawaiian Islands to Great
Britain, 125.
Pearl Harbor, transferred by Hawaii
to United States for a naval station,
371 ; protest of British minister
492
INDEX
to cession of, by Hawaii to United
States, 372.
Peiho, foreign ministers arrive at
mouth of, 216 ; reception of foreign
ministers by Chinese commissioner
on banks of, 217 ; failure of confer-
ence and departure of foreign min-
isters from, 218 ; foreign ministers
proceed to, 236 ; American, French,
and British arrive at mouth of, 246 ;
channel of, obstructed by Chinese,
246 ; battle of, between China and
allies, 247.
Peking, Cushing directed to reach, if
possible, 81 ; Cushing abandons idea
of reaching, 87 ; Cushing criticised
for not attempting to reach, 93 ;
Minister Ward at, 249; Minister
Ward leaves, without exchange of
ratifications, 252 ; captured by allied
forces, 254 ; siege of the legations
in, 419.
Perry, Matthew Calbraith, 147 ; suc-
ceeds Aulick in command of Japan
expedition, 147 ; banquet given, on
sailing of Japan expedition, 149 ;
seclusive policy of, in dealing with
Japanese, 152 ; religious custom of,
154 ; firmness of, in dealing with
Japanese, 155 ; ceremonious delivery
of President's letter by, 156 ; informs
Japanese he will return the follow-
ing spring, 157 ; determines to hasten
his return to Japan, 160 ; resolute
course of, in regard to place of nego-
tiation, 161 ; negotiations of, with
Japanese plenipotentiaries, 162 ; ban-
quets Japanese officials, 164 ; suc-
cess of, In his mission to Japan, 166 ;
Japanese appreciation of services of,
168 ; dedication of Japanese monu-
ment to, 169; disagreement with
Minister Marshall, 206. See also
Japan Expedition.
Peru, treatment of Chinese coolies in,
276; coolies in, petition American
legation for aid, 278.
Pescadores Islands, Dutch occupy, 4 ;
cession of, by China to Japan, 340.
Pethick, W. N., secretary of Li Hung
Chang, on opium trade, 295; sketch
of his life, 295.
Philippines, occupied by Spaniards
(1543), 6 ; disposition of, at close of
Spanish War, a problem, 402 ; per-
plexity of President regarding, 402 ;
instructions of American commis-
sioners regarding, 403 ; attitude of
American commissioners in regard
to, 404 ; conferences at Paris between
commissioners regarding, 404 ; effect
of President's Western trip on acqui-
sition of, 404 ; reasons advanced for
United States acquiring, 405 ; Spain
cedes, to United States, 405 ; trou-
bles in China closely following ces-
sion of, to United States, 407 ; acqui-
sition of, makes United States an
Asiatic power, 438.
Port Arthur, seizure of, by Russia,
414.
Portuguese, arrive in China, 4 ; out-
rages in China, 4; visit Japan (1542)
7 ; establishment at Macao, 33 ; im-
ported from Azores for Hawaiian
sugar plantations, 371.
Preble, The, Expedition of, to Japan,
144.
Protocol of August 12, 1898, between
Spain and United States, 402 ; text
of, 468.
Pruyn, Robert H., appointed minister
to Japan, 89 ; refuses to leave Yedo
after burning of legation, 190 ; re-
tires to Yokohama at request of
Japanese government, 190.
Reed, William B., succeeds Dr. Parker
as minister to China, 231 ; political
reasons for appointment of, 231 ;
commissioned as minister instead of
commissioner, 231 ; fails to secure
interview with Commissioner Yeh,
233 ; resigns as minister to China
and returns home, 244; opinion of,
respecting Dr. Williams, 273.
Reid, Whitelaw, one of American
commissioners to negotiate peace
with Spain, 403.
Richardson, murder of, by Japanese,
189.
Roberts, Edmund, urges protection of
American commerce in Pacific, 45 ;
sent on mission to Siam, Muscat,
and Annam, 46 ; treatment of, at
Canton, 47 ; attempted negotiations
of, at Annam, 48 ; reception of, in
Siam, 49 ; reception of, at Muscat,
52 ; exchanges ratifications of Siam-
ese treaty, 54; death and services
of, at Macao, 55 ; furnished with
letters of credence to emperor of
Japan, 140, 141 ; presents intended
for emperor of Japan carried by,
141.
Roberts, Rev. J. J., relations of, to
INDEX
493
Taiping Rebellion, 209 ; visits Tai-
ping court at Nankin, 210.
Rock Springs, indemnity for anti-
Chinese riots at, 301.
Rockhill, W. W., sent as special com-
missioner to China during siege of
legations, 424 ; on departure of
Conger from China, assumes charge
of peace negotiations, 428.
Rodgers, Admiral, in command of ex-
pedition to Korea, 314.
Rome, Japanese Christians visit, 9.
Russia, early relations of China and,
16; war between China and, 17th
century, 17 ; treaty of, 1689, with
China, 17; envoy from, to Peking
(1693), 18; envoy from, to Peking
(1719), 19; early trade of China
with, 21 ; treaty of, 1727, with, 21 ;
Hawaiian island of Kauai placed
under protection of, 112 ; treaty
between Japan and (1855), 166 ;
treaty between Japan and (1858),
183; treaty between China and
(1858), 238, 242; attempt of, to
enter into negotiations with Korea,
318; increasing influence of, in far
East, 342; seizure of Port Arthur
by, 414; announces that it has no
intention to acquire Chinese terri-
tory, 425 ; the power most feared by
China and Japan, 436.
Samoa, United States withholds ap-
proval of alliance between Hawaii
and, 373 ; embassy from Hawaii to,
374 ; missionaries in, 386 ; arrival of
traders in, 387; first attention of
United States called to, 387 ; cession
of Pago Pago harbor by, to United
States, not acted on by Senate, 388 ;
Steinberger sent as agent of United
States to, 388; Steinberger reports
and is again sent to, 388; Stein-
berger becomes premier of, and is
deported, 388 ; United States de-
clines protectorate over, 389; trea-
ties of, with United States (1878)
and other countries, 389; disorders
in, over kingship, 389 ; German in-
terest and influence in, 390 ; Ameri-
can consul raises flag over, 390 ;
German consul assumes control of
government of, 390 ; American con-
sul second time proclaims protecto-
rate over, 390 ; conference at Wash-
ington concerning, between United
States, Great Britain, and Germany,
391 ; failure of conference to reach
an agreement regarding, 391 ; Ger-
many dethrones Malietoa and in-
stalls Tamasese as king of, 392;
American squadron sent to, de-
stroyed by hurricane at Apia, 392;
desire of United States to preserve
independence of, 392 ; conference at
Berlin in reference to, between
United States, Great Britain, and
Germany, 393 ; instructions to Amer-
ican commissioners at Berlin Con-
ference concerning, 393 ; agreement
reached by Berlin Conference as to,
394; joint protectorate over, by
United States, Great Britain, and
Germany, 394 ; unsatisfactory opera-
tion of tripartite protectorate, 395 ;
civil war in, following death of Ma-
lietoa, 396; foreign sympathy with
rivals for kingship, 396 ; joint com-
mission sent to, by United States,
Great Britain, and Germany, 396 ; re-
port of joint commission on, and tri-
partite protectorate abandoned, 397 ;
partition of, 397 ; efforts and failure
of United States to preserve inde-
pendence of, 397 ; lesson from at-
tempted joint control of, 398; text
of treaty of 1899, between United
States, Germany, and Great Britain,
regarding, 466.
Sandalwood, Hawaiian trade in, 101 ;
value of trade in, to Hawaiian
Islands, 101 ; exhaustion of supply
of, in Hawaiian Islands, 102.
Sandwich Islands, see Hawaiian
Islands.
Sargent, Senator, submits report of
committee on Chinese immigration,
287 ; introduces resolution to send a
commissioner to Korea, 323.
Satsuma, Prince of, Richardson mur-
dered by followers of, 189; refuses
to pay indemnity demanded for
murder, 189 ; capital of, bombarded
by British squadron, 189.
Scott Act, relating to Chinese exclu-
sion, 301.
Sen Ki-yu, book of, on Western civili-
zation, 259 ; eulogy of, on Washing-
ton, 260; degraded on account of
book, 260; reinstated and made
member of Tsung-li Yamen, 260;
presented by United States with
portrait of Washington, 261.
Seward, George F., consul-general at
Shanghai, advises attempt to open
494
INDEX
relations with Korea, 312; inform-
ants of, as to Korea, a party of ad-
venturers, 317.
Seward, William H., on expansion of
United States in Pacific, 135 ; re-
marks of, on retirement of Harris as
minister to Japan, 185 ; favors an
nexation of Hawaii, 367 ; prophesies
expansion of United States in, 401.
Shanghai, rising1 commercial impor-
tance of, 96 ; capture of Chinese city
of, by Taipings, 208.
Shaw, Samuel, first visit of, to China,
27 ; report of, to Jay, 31 ; appointed
first American consul at Canton, 32 ;
death of, 38.
Shimmi, Japanese envoy, expresses
views on Western civilization, 185.
Shimoda, vessels only permitted to
enter at, 172 ; Townsend Harris ap-
pointed consul-general to reside at,
172 ; Harris arrives at, 173.
Shimonoseki, affair of, 192 ; American
vessel fired on in strait of, 193;
United States naval steamer en-
gages batteries at, 193 ; joint naval
expedition of powers silence bat-
teries at, 193 ; indemnity paid by
Japan for affair at, 194; United
States returns to Japan share of in-
demnity for affair at, 194; peace
negotiations at, between China and
Japan, 340.
Shogun, audience of, by Dutch officials,
14; audience of , by Harris, 178; op-
position to, on account of treaties
with Western nations, 187 ; rela-
tions between Mikado, and, 187, 196 ;
visits Mikado at Kioto, 190 ; sur-
renders government to Mikado, 198.
Ships, outfit of, engaged in China
trade, 30.
Shufeldt, Commodore R. W., sent to
Chinese seas instructed to make
treaty with Korea, 323; negotiates
treaty with Korea, 324 ; experience
and service of, 325.
Siam, early French relations with, 46 ;
Roberts sent on mission to, 46 ; re-
ception of Roberts at, 49 ; treaty of
United States with (1833), 50; ex-
change of ratifications of United
States treaty with, 54; Townsend
Harris negotiates new treaty with,
172.
Simpson, Sir George, one of Hawaiian
commissioners to Europe and United
States, 121.
Snow, Samuel, American consul at
Canton, 38.
Spain, occupies Philippines, 6 ; vessels
of, visit Japan, 7 ; war between
United States and, 399 ; truce pro-
tocol between United States and,
402 ; cedes Philippines to United
States, 405; text of protocol of
August 12, 1898, and treaty of peace
between United States and, 468.
Spanish War, influence of, upon the
annexation of Hawaii, 383 ; policy of
the United States at commencement
of, 399; territory held by United
States at close of, 400 ; negotiations
of peace at conclusion of, 403.
Spheres of influence in China, agree-
ments between Russia and Great
Britain, and Germany and Great
Britain as to, 415 ; Secretary Hay's
note in favor of "open door" and
against, 432.
Steinberger, A. B., sent to Samoa as
agent of United States to report
conditions, 388 ; becomes premier of
Samoan king and is deported, 388.
Sumatra, murder of crew of Friendship
in, 45.
Sugar-growing, in Hawaii, 370.
Swift, John T., one of commission to
negotiate treaty of immigration
with China, 294.
Taiping Rebellion, extent of, 208;
origin and leader of, 209 ; condition
of, in 1853, 210 ; McLane visits head-
quarters of rebels to study condition
of, 210 ; insulting address to McLane
by leader of, 210 ; McLane's views
upon, 211 ; progress of, and cause
of its failure, 211 ; attitude of United
States towards, 211 ; services of Gen-
eral Ward and his ' ' Ever Victorious
Army " in suppressing, 212 ; neu-
trality of United States during, 220.
Taku Forts, British and French allies
demand surrender of, 237 ; taken by
assault, 238 ; repulse of British and
French forces at, 247 ; successfully
assaulted by allies, 254 ; bombard-
ment of, by allies during Boxer up-
rising, 419.
Talienwan, China leases port of, to
Russia, 415.
Tamasese, rival for Samoan kingship,
389.
Tariff, in Anglo-Chinese treaty (1842),
76; provisions relating to, in Japa-
INDEX
495
nese treaties, 345 ; fixed in Japanese
treaties, 352.
Tatnall, Commodore, part taken by,
at battle of the Peiho, 247 ; famous
saying of, 248.
Terranova affair, 40.
Thomas, Admiral, disavows act of ces-
sion of Hawaii (1843) to Great Brit-
ain, 126.
Tientsin, foreign ministers arrive at,
238 ; negotiation of treaties of 1858
at, 238 ; riots at, in 1870, 268 ; at-
tack on foreigners at, in 1900, 419.
Tokio, name of Yedo changed to, 198.
Trade, overland, of China with Russia,
21 ; early European, with Japan, 12 ;
of East India Company with China,
22 ; course of American, with China,
30 ; conduct of, at Canton, 33 ; re-
strictions on, at Canton, 35 ; regula-
lations relaxed in China, 41 ; em-
barassments of, at Canton, 43 ; in-
crease of United States, following
treaties, 95 ; Hawaiian, in sandal-
wood, 101. See also China Trade ;
Fur Trade; Opium Trade.
Treaty, between Russia and China
(1689), 17 ; between Russia and
China (1727), 21; United States,
with Siam (1833), 50 ; United States,
with Muscat, 52 ; exchange of rati-
fications of United States, with Siam,
54 ; of peace between Great Britain
and China (1842), 71 ; tariff in Anglo-
Chinese (1842), 76 ; of Wang Hiya,
between China and United States
(1844), 86 ; of Wang Hiya, impor-
tance of, 89 ; of France with China
(1844), 95 ; negotiated between
Hawaii and United States (1826),
114, 121, 128 ; forced from Hawai-
ian government by French authori-
ties (1839), 120 ; negotiated by Lord
Russell with Hawaii under compul-
sion, 121 ; criminal trials of foreign-
ers in Hawaii under French, 127 ; of
United States with Hawaii (1849),
128 ; of United States with Borneo
(1850), 142 ; of Japan with United
States (1854), 164; of Japan with
Great Britain (1854), 166; of Japan
with Russia (1855), 166; of Japan
with United States, ratified, 168 ; of
Siam with United States, negotiated
by Harris, 172 ; of Japan with
United States (1857), 175 ; of Japan
with United States (1858), 182 ; of
Japan with United States, provisions
of, 182 ; of Japan with Great Britain,
Russia, and France (1858), 183 ; be-
tween China and United States
(1844), clause relative to revision of,
217 ; of China with United States
(1858), 238, 242; of China with
Russia, Great Britain, and France ;
of China with United States (1868),
265; of China with United States
(1880), relating to immigration, 294 ;
of China with United States, prohib-
iting opium trade, 295 ; of United
States with China (1888), negoti-
ated but not finally ratified, 300 ;
of China with United States (1894),
302 ; of Korea with Japan (1876),
320 ; of Korea with United States,
324 ; of Korea with Great Britain
(1883), 327 ; of Korea with Germany
(1883), 327 ; of Korea with France
(1886), 331 ; of peace between China
and Japan (1895), 340 ; of Japan
with United States (1878), 357 ; of
Japan with United States on extra-
dition (1886), 358; of Japan with
Great Britain (1894), 361 ; of Japan
with United States (1894) 362 ; reci-
procity, of 1855 and one of 1867, be-
tween Hawaii and United States, fail
of ratification, 367 ; reciprocity, be-
tween Hawaii and United States
(1876), 369; of annexation of Ha-
waii to United States, negotiated
in 1893, 377 ; same in 1897, 381 ;
•joint resolution of annexation, passed
July, 1898, 383; of Samoa with
United States (1878) and other coun-
tries, 389 ; of China with the pow-
ers (1901), 430; text of, between
China and powers (September 7,
1901), 441 ; text of, of China with
United States (1894), 450 ; text of,
of Japan with United States (1894),
453 ; text of, between United States,
Germany, and Great Britain (1899),
regarding Samoa, 466 ; text of, of
peace between United States :and
Spain, 1898, 468.
Trescot, William H., one of commis-
sion to negotiate treaty of immigra-
tion with China, 294.
Tribute-bearer, Lord Macartney con-
sidered, by Chinese, 23 ; Webster's
instruction that Cushing was not,
80.
Tsiyeng, Chinese high commissioner to
negotiate treaty with Cushing, 85 ;
report of, to emperor upon negotia-
496
INDEX
tions at Wang Hiya, 90 ; Cushing's
opinion of, 91.
Tsung-li Yamen, established, 256 ; ap-
preciates Burlingame's policy of
cooperation, 259 ; Sen Ki-yu made
a member of, 260; on request of
United States notifies Korea of in-
tended American expedition, 314;
abolished and succeeded by Wai-wu
Pu, 431.
Tung Wen Kwan, the imperial college,
261.
Tutuila, one of Samoan group trans-
ferred to United States, 397.
Tyler, President, message of, regard-
ing Chinese mission, 78 ; letter of,
to emperor of China, 81.
United States, extension of commerce,
of, in Pacific, 26 ; commercial diffi-
culties of, in the Pacific, 26; first
vessel of, to reach China, 27 ; com-
mercial enterprise of, 29 ; conduct of
China trade by, 30 ; fur trade of,
■with China, 31 ; increase of trade of,
with China, 36 ; better position of,
in regard to political relations, 44 ;
exposed condition of commerce of,
in Pacific, 45 ; almost exclusive trade
of, in furs and sandalwood, 10 1 ; opin-
ion in, regarding Opium War, 73 ; in-
terests of, during Opium War, 74 ;
interests of, in China, 76; treaty
of Wang Hiya between China and
86 ; effect of Chinese treaties on
commerce of, 95 ; extent of whaling
industry of, 103 ; first ship to carry
flag of, to England, 103 ; attitude of,
to Hawaiian independence, 111 ;
consul of, to Hawaii established, 113 ;
treaty negotiated between Hawaiian
Islands and (1826), 114; Hawaiian
commission arrives in (1842), 121 ;
policy of, toward Hawaii declared
by Webster, 123; controversy of,
■with Hawaii over criminal trials,
127 ; treaty of Hawaii with (1849),
128 ; provisional cession of Hawaiian
Islands to, 130 ; Creasy on, in Orient,
134 ; Seward on, in Orient, 135 ; early
attempts of, to open trade with Ja-
pan, 136 ; cause of determination of,
to force treaty on Japan, 145 ; sends
expedition to Japan, 147 ; treaty be-
tween Japan and (1854), 164, 165;
sends squadron to dedication of
Perry monument in Japan, 169;
treaty of Japan with (1857), 175 ;
delivery of letter of President of, to
emperor of Japan by Harris, 176 ;
negotiation of treaty of 1857 between
Japan and, 180 ; treaty between
Japan and (1858), 182; rioters burn
legation of, at Yedo, 189 ; Japanese
embassy to (1860), 184 ; murder of
secretary of legation of, in streets of
Yedo, 188 ; cooperative policy of, in
Japan, 191 ; returns share of Shi-
monoseki indemnity to Japan, 194 ;
protests against hostility of Japanese
government to Christianity, 200;
foremost in development of Japan,
201 ; attitude of, towards Taiping
Rebellion, 211 ; hostilities at Canton
between China and, 225; proposed
acquisition of Formosa and Lew
Chew Islands by, 229 ; conservative
policy of, in relation to China, 229 ;
policy of peaceful cooperation by, in
China, 231 ; could not make war
against China without consent of
Congress, 232 ; opposed to coercive
measures with China, 236; treaty
between China and (1858), 238, 242 ;
claims of citizens of, against China
settled, 243 ; returns to China part of
Canton Indemnity Fund, 244 ; Bur-
lingame embassv in, 264 ; treaty of
China with (1868), 265; firm atti-
tude of, on audience question, 269 ;
Chinese youths sent to, to be edu-
cated, 272 ; demand for Chinese la-
bor in, 274 ; legislation of, against
coolie trade, 281 ; Chinese laborers
arrive on Pacific coast of, 282 ; treaty
between China and (1880), relative
to immigration, 294 ; treaty right of,
to regulate Chinese immigration,
295 ; by treaty with China prohibits
opium trade, 295 ; opposed from out-
set to opium trade, 298 ; treaty be-
tween China and (1888) negotiated
but not finally ratified, 300 ; in-
creased sentiment in, against Chinese
immigration, 302 ; treaty between
China and (1894), 302; change,
since 1868, of public opinion in, in
regard to Chinese exclusion, 305 ;
vessel of, burned and its crew killed
by Koreans, 310 ; investigation by,
as to the affairs of the General Sher-
man, 312 ; naval expedition of, to
Korea, 313 ; Li Hung Chang advises
Koreans to make treaty with, 323 ;
treaty between Korea and (1882),
324 ; exterritorial rights of, in Korea,
INDEX
497
325 ; Korean embassy sent to, 326 ;
citizens of, aid in transformation of
Korea, 330; efforts of, to prevent
Chinese-Japanese War, 333 ; declines
to unite with Great Britain to pre-
vent Chinese-Japanese War, 334;
letter of thanks from emperor of
Japan for services of, during Chinese
War, 341 ; Iwakura embassy arrives
in, 346 ; part taken by citizens of, in
reforms in Japan, 350 ; treaty be-
tween Japan and (1878), 357 ; extra-
dition treaty between Japan and
(1886), 358; treaty between Japan
and (1894), regarding revision of
treaties, 362 ; reciprocity treaty be-
tween Hawaii and (1876), 369; Ha-
waii cedes Pearl Harbor to, 371 ;
declines to join in guaranty of neu-
trality and independence of Hawaii,
372 ; withholds approval of alliance
between Hawaii and Samoa, 373;
lands marines at Honolulu during
revolution of January 16-17, 1893,
377 ; annexation treaty between Ha-
waii and, negotiated February, 1893,
377; Hawaiian annexation treaty
withdrawn by President Cleveland,
378; sends Blount as commissioner
to investigate Hawaiian revolution
and conditions, 378 ; efforts of Presi-
dent of, for peaceful restoration of
Hawaiian queen, 379; failure of,
to secure restoration of Hawaiian
queen, 379 ; annexation treaty be-
tween Hawaii and, negotiated in
1897, 381 ; joint resolution of annexa-
tion passed July, 1898, 383 ; Hawaii
organized as territory of, 383 ; rea-
sons for annexation of Hawaii to,
384 ; sends agent to Samoa to report
conditions, 388 ; declines protector-
ate over Samoa, 389 ; treaty between
Samoa and (1878), 389 ; desire of,
to preserve Samoan independence,
392 ; sends commissioners to Berlin
Samoan Conference, 393 ; secures
Tutuila in partition of Samoan
group, 397 ; efforts and failure of, to
preserve Samoan independence, 397 ;
policy of, at commencement of war
with Spain, 399 ; policy of, affected
by victory of Manila Bay, 400 ; ter-
ritory held by, at close of Spanish
War, 400 ; prophetic words of Sew-
ard as to expansion of, 401 ; truce
protocol of August 12, 1898, between
Spain and, 402 ; commissioners of, to
negotiate treaty of peace with Spain,
403; instructions to commissioners
of, at peace negotiations, 403 ; rea-
sons advanced for acquisition of Phil-
ippines by, 405; Spain cedes Phil-
ippines to, 405 ; change of policy of,
as to military cooperation in China,
422 ; policy of, in China, outlined in
circular note of July 3, 1900, 423 ;
desires China to punish Boxer lead-
ers, not surrender them to allies, 425 ;
position of, on questions of punish-
ment and indemnity in Chinese peace
negotiations, 428, 429 ; influence of,
in peace negotiations between China
and allies, 431 ; favors " open door "
policy in China, 432 ; favors China's
view as to rate of exchange on in-
demnity payments, 433; friendship
between Great Britain and, 437 ; just
and liberal conduct of, in the Orient,
438; on acquiring Philippines be-
came an Asiatic power, 438 ; task
and duty of, in the Orient, 438 ; text
of treaty on immigration between
China and (1894), 450; text of treaty
of, with Japan (1895), 453 ; text of
joint resolution of Congress for an-
nexing Hawaii to, 463 ; text of Sa-
moan treaty (1899) .between Ger-
many, Great Britain, and, 466 ; text
of protocol of August 12, 1898, and
treaty of peace between Spain and,
468.
Uraga, Perry's Japan expedition an-
chors opposite, 150 ; President's let-
ter to emperor of Japan delivered
at, 156.
Vancouver, Captain George, visits Ha-
waiian Islands, 100 ; attempts to an-
nex Hawaiian Islands, 111.
Van Valkenburgh, R. B., appointed
minister to Japan, 197.
Wai-wu Pu, Tsung-li Yamen abolished
and succeeded by, 431.
Wang Hiya, treaty of, 86.
Ward, Frederick T., general in Chi-
nese service, 212 ; organizes " Ever
Victorious Army," 212 ; his death,
212.
Ward, John E., appointed United
States minister to China, 245; de-
layed at Peking over audience ques-
tion, 249 ; departs from Peking, 252 ;
course pursued by, criticised, 252;
retires as minister to China, 253.
498
INDEX
Weather-vane, Chinese superstition
concerning' American consul's, 91.
Webster, Daniel, on importance of
Chinese mission, 78 ; letter of in-
structions by, to Cushing, 80 ; United
States policy toward Hawaii declared
by, 123.
Webster, Fletcher, secretary of Cush-
ing embassy, 79.
Weddel, Captain, 5.
Wei-hai-wei, fortress of, captured by
Japanese, 340 ; China leases, to Great
Britain, 415.
Wensiang, member of Tsung-li Yamen,
and foremost Chinese statesman of
his time, 257; on the danger of
awakening China, 434.
Whale fishery, superiority of Ameri-
can colonies in, 102 ; after American
Revolution, 103; growth of Ameri-
can, 104 ; effect of Confederate
cruisers on, 105 ; decline of Ameri-
can, 105 ; in Japanese waters, 145.
Williams, Dr. S. Wells, on Morrison's
voyage to Japan, 138 ; joins Japan
expedition as chief interpreter, 150 ;
assists in negotiations of treaty of
1858 between China and United
States, 238 ; view of, as to relations
of foreign ministers during negotia-
tions at Tientsin, 241 ; succeeds in
securing provision of toleration of
Christianity in Chinese treaty of
1858, 243 ; charge" of United States
legation in China, 244, 253 ; author
of " The Middle Kingdom " and Chi-
nese dictionary, 273 ; retires from
diplomatic service, 273 ; accepts
chair of Chinese Literature at Yale
University, 273; profound learning
of, 274.
Women, foreign, excluded from China
and Japan, 19, 42.
Xavier, Francis, arrives in Japan
(1549), 9 ; lands on Chinese coast
and death there, 410.
Yamagutsi, vice-ambassador of Iwa-
kura embassy, 345.
Yedo, consternation caused at, by arri-
val of Japan expedition, 151 ; Amer-
ican surveying parties advance near
to, 154 ; preparations of defense at,
in expectation of Perry's return, 159 ;
official visit of Harris to, 177 ; mur-
der of secretary of United States
legation in streets of, 188 ; American
legation at, burned by rioters, 189 ;
American minister retires from, to
Yokohama at request of Japanese
government, 190; postponement of
opening port of, 192; return of
American legation to, 197 ; Mikado
transfers capital to, and name
changed to Tokio, 198.
Yedo, Bay of, the Morrison enters
(1837), 138; the Manhattan enters
(1845), 139; Commodore Biddle en-
ters, in 1846, 143 ; Commodore Perry
enters, July 8, 1853, 150 ; Japan ex-
pedition returns to, 160.
Yeh, Chinese commissioner present at
interview between Chinese commis-
sioner and Davis, 204 ; Chinese high
commissioner, 205 ; farewell note of,
to Minister Marshall, 213 ; avoids in-
terview with Minister McLane, 214 ;
refuses interview to Minister Parker,
221 ; excuses attack of Americans by
Chinese forts near Canton, 226 ; ex-
cuses himself from receiving Minister
Reed, 233 ; captured by allies, sent
to Calcutta, where he died, 233 ; un-
reasonably blamed for his conduct
toward foreigners, 233.
Yokohama, Perry's negotiations take
place on future site of, 162 ; Ameri-
can minister, at request of Japanese
government, retires to, 190.
(Cbe ftiticrsibc prc£g
Klectrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton &* Co.
Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.
JX Foster, John Watson
1421 American diplomacy in the
F7 Orient
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
I
34 JO H. American Diplomacy in the Orient
JOHN W. FOSTER
At last we have a dispassionate account of the origin and process of American
expansion. Mr. Foster's position as Special Plenipotentiary to Great Britain,
Germany, China, and Japan has afforded him an intimate acquaintance with the
history and workings of American diplomacy in the East, and gives authority
to his account of the early American commercial intercourse with China, the
opening of Japan, the political history and annexation of Hawaii and the
Philippines, and the relation of the United States to other countries of the
Pacific. Mr. Foster pays special attention to the results of the Spanish War
in the Far East, and shows the honorable part the United States has borne
in the stirring events of the most recent phases of international politics. Mr.
Foster's treatment of the subject is impartial ami his narrative clear and
readable. — Booklovers Bulletin.
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